Going to an NFL Game in America – As a Brit

This blog post features links and information which have been obtained on a press trip. However, as always, all opinions shared in this post are my own.

Over the past few years, I’ve grown increasingly interested in American Football—especially the NFL, which is the easiest to watch in the UK.

It took less than a year for ‘to watch an NFL game live in a US stadium’ to make it onto my bucket list, and in 2024, that dream became a reality.

Going to your first NFL game in the US can be a daunting experience—especially as a Brit. So, here are some of the things I learned in the research process and through my experience that I think you should know.

The NFL Season

The NFL season runs from August* to February. Therefore, you can only catch an NFL game if you’re visiting the US during this time.

The season is split into four parts:

1. Pre-Season: A handful of exhibition games take place in August. This allows teams to evaluate their players.
2. Regular Season: This is the bulk of the NFL season, running from September until early January. Each team plays 17 games over 18 weeks.
3. Playoffs: Only a selected number of teams make the playoffs, which run from January to February.
4. Super Bowl: The two playoff winners will compete in the Super Bowl, which is held on the first or second Sunday in February.

NFL Teams & Stadiums

There are 32 teams in the NFL, and I’ve organised each team by state below:

Arizona

• Arizona Cardinals: State Farm Stadium (Glendale)

California

• Los Angeles Chargers: SoFi Stadium (Inglewood)
• Los Angeles Rams: SoFi Stadium (Inglewood)
• San Francisco 49ers: Levi’s Stadium (Santa Clara)

Colorado

• Denver Broncos: Empower Field at Mile High (Denver)

Florida

• Jacksonville Jaguars: EverBank Stadium (Jacksonville)
• Miami Dolphins: Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Gardens)
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Raymond James Stadium (Tampa)

Georgia

• Atlanta Falcons: Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta)

Illinois

• Chicago Bears: Soldier Field (Chicago)

Indiana

• Indianapolis Colts: Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis)

Louisiana

• New Orleans Saints: Caesars Superdome (New Orleans)

Maryland

• Baltimore Ravens: M&T Bank Stadium (Baltimore)
• Washington Commanders: FedExField (Landover)

Massachusetts

• New England Patriots: Gillette Stadium (Foxborough)

Michigan

• Detroit Lions: Ford Field (Detroit)

Minnesota

• Minnesota Vikings: U.S. Bank Stadium (Minneapolis)

Missouri

• Kansas City Chiefs: GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium (Kansas City)

Nevada

• Las Vegas Raiders: Allegiant Stadium (Paradise)

New Jersey

• New York Giants: MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford)
• New York Jets: MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford)

Yes, the New York Giants and the New York Jets really do share a stadium.

New York

• Buffalo Bills: Highmark Stadium (Orchard Park)

North Carolina

• Carolina Panthers: Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte)

Ohio

• Cincinnati Bengals: Paycor Stadium (Cincinnati)
• Cleveland Browns: Cleveland Browns Stadium (Cleveland)

Pennsylvania

• Philadelphia Eagles: Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia)
• Pittsburgh Steelers: Acrisure Stadium (Pittsburgh)

Tennessee

• Tennessee Titans: Nissan Stadium (Nashville)

Texas

• Dallas Cowboys: AT&T Stadium (Arlington)
• Houston Texans: NRG Stadium (Houston)

Washington

• Seattle Seahawks: Lumen Field (Seattle)

Wisconsin

• Green Bay Packers: Lambeau Field (Green Bay)

Buying NFL Tickets in the UK

The best place to buy NFL tickets for US stadiums in the UK is Ticketmaster. The site is easy to navigate and breaks down each team’s home games.

NFL tickets typically cost between $20 – $2,500. A dramatic price range that typically depends on:

• The team
• The point in the season
• Who the team is playing
• Seat location

If you’re on a budget, you can get an excellent seat for a pre-season game for around $20. However, the score doesn’t count toward the regular season and doesn’t help a team reach the playoffs.

Alternatively, you can get regular season NFL game day tickets for $60. However, these will be high-bowl. Tickets closer to the field typically retail for $250+.

Playoff tickets are very desirable, given the potential impact a win could have on the team. However, they can only be purchased once a team has made the playoffs or gets through to the next round.

It goes without saying that Super Bowl tickets are the most desirable NFL tickets. Prices typically start from $2,500. However, if you miss face-value tickets, expect to pay an average of $8,000 for a resale ticket.

My NFL Game Day Experience

This year, I had the pleasure of catching the Jacksonville Jaguars pre-season game at home at the EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville.

We arrived at the stadium around 90 minutes before kickoff. Parked the car, and headed through security. NFL game day security is high, so pack accordingly to avoid returning to your vehicle.

Once inside, we had time to scout out the stadium. For context, Wembley has a 90,000-seat capacity, while EverBank Stadium has 64,000 seats, with the ability to increase capacity to 83,000+.

Even during the pre-season, there were plenty of photo opportunities. There were also several food and drink stalls, and merch stands to choose from.

In our case, we didn’t need food because (and I still can’t quite believe I’m saying this) we had a suite. The Jacksonville Jaguars social team kindly arranged this for me while I was visiting Jacksonville on a press trip.

While an NFL game is scheduled to last 60 minutes with four 15-minute quarters, most games typically run for around three hours.

This meant that with a 6:30 p.m. kickoff, we didn’t finish up until around 10 pm. Getting out of EverBank stadium was a breeze—all things considered.

However, being a pre-season game, the stadium wasn’t at capacity. As such, I can’t speak as to the difficulty of getting out of the stadium during the regular season.

Despite being a pre-season game, the atmosphere was fantastic. When the Jags came to London later in the year, I had the pleasure of attending one of the games at Wembley.

This was a regular-season game. As such, the result very much mattered, especially since the Jags were 4 and 1 on the season. However, the atmosphere wasn’t as good, at least in my opinion.

If you’re planning to go to an NFL game while in the US, I recommend spending some time understanding the game’s principles.

The rules of an NFL game are more complex than football (soccer) or even rugby. It would be hard to arrive at the stadium to watch a game and know what was going on if this is the first time you’ve seen a game of American football.

Thankfully, there are several YouTube videos designed to explain the basics. These videos, applied to a couple of televised games, should get you set up to know what’s going on during your live game.