The Jacksonville Jaguars have made London their second home – which is quite incredible when you think about it. There aren’t many sports teams that have managed to cultivate such a localised fanbase in a completely different country – but the Jaguars have managed it!
We’re going to take a look at the latest games that the Jags have played in London, as well as their history in London. As for when the Jacksonville Jaguars are playing in London next we can assume there will be another three games in London 2025, with the Jaguars playing at least one of them. These will almost definitely take place in October 2025.
Jacksonville Jaguars – London 2024
It’s safe to say that 2024 hasn’t been a great year for the Jags. However, they did manage to pick up an important win in their second game on this side of the Atlantic during this campaign – a much-needed upturn in fortunes for Trevor Lawrence and his team.
Their 1-4 start to the season became 1-5 when they played their first game in London on October the 13th. The phenomenal start to Caleb Williams for the Bears was showing no signs of stopping, as the Jags went down 35-16 in a pretty emphatic defeat. However, the two late touchdowns they scored gave them something to build on, and that’s exactly what they did the following week against the Patriots.
It didn’t get off to the best of starts – when Drake Maye passed to JaMycal Hasty to put the Patriots 7-0 up in the first quarter, Jags fans could have been forgiven for fearing the worst, especially when a second quarter field goal put them 10-0 down But then Lawrence started to show what he’s capable of – in under 10 minutes the Jaguars scored 3 touchdowns to take an unlikely 22-10 lead into the break. Tank Bigsby picked up his second touchdown of the game in the fourth quarter to seal a comfortable 32-16 win.
Okay, so the Patriots are bad. (Really bad). But there was plenty of cause for optimism during the London Games for the Jags in 2024.
A brief NFL history of the London Games
Back in 2005, the people behind the NFL were looking at ways to expand the game. Due to the vigorous nature of the sport, the number of games played a year was limited, so there wasn’t really any room for expansion. They had to look for another solution to attract a wider audience.
When they looked at most other sports, like football, and in particular the Premier League, they saw how it had become a truly international attraction, which brought a whole new market of viewership and sponsorship (read: money) with it. The US market had been pretty much saturated, so the only logical step was to move into other countries = and thus the NFL International Series was born.
They had experimented in 2005, when for the first time a regular season match was played – the Arizona Cardinals defeated the San Francisco 49ers, 31–14, at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico. 103,467 people packed into the stadium to watch it. You can almost see the dollar signs that appeared over the eyes of the NFL bigwigs!
In 2007, the International Series started in earnest, when the Miami Dolphins played the New York Giants at Wembley Stadium. While the game wasn’t a classic (the Giants won 13-10), the response was emphatic – 40,000 tickets were sold in the first 90 minutes of them being on sale.
Building on the foundations
For the next 4 years, one game a season was played in the UK, and the London Games built up some momentum. Enough momentum, in fact, to justify the NFL announcing that one team would play one game a year at Wembley Stadium – and that team was, of course…
The St Louis Rams…
Yeah, it was never meant to be the Jacksonville Jaguars… But with months of that initial announcement the St Louis Rams (now the Los Angeles Rams) announced that they would only play in London for one game in one year in 2012. So from the 2013 season, the Jacksonville Jaguars took their place, and they haven’t looked back since! They have played at least one game in London every year since, apart from the 2020 season, which was restricted due to COVID-19.
The Jaguars UK record
Things didn’t go well to begin with – they lost their first two games (to the 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys), but bounced back in 2015 with a thrilling victory over the Buffalo Bills. In 2017 they recorded their biggest win to date in London with an impressive 44-7 win over the Baltimore Ravens. This was at the height of the ‘Sacksonville’ defence that they had built, and they were a formidable opponent for most of the NFL.
Their form in the London Games has been a bot of a mixed bag since then, but has dramatically improved in the last few years – heading into the 2024 games, the Jacksonville Jaguars have won the last two games (vs the Atlanta Falcons and the Bills) on this side of the Atlantic, both at Wembley and at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. They seem settled here compared to their opponents, and as in 2023, will play consecutive matches in London, which may give them the edge over other teams that will travel the week of the game.
They could use a few things going their way, if the first few weeks of the season are anything to go by. Trevor Lawrence and his side have had a tricky start, and have not got into their rhythm yet. The NFL London Games could be exactly what they need to kick start their season.
When are the 2025 NFL London Games?
There were three matches in London in October 2024, and another in Munich in November, and there is talk of expanding it to six European matches in 2025, with Madrid confirmed as an additional venue and Dublin and Berlin amongst the names of other possible host cities.
When are the Jacksonville Jaguars Playing?
As it stands, we can assume that there will be another three games in London 2025, with the Jaguars playing at least one of them. These will almost definitely take place in October 2025, following the pattern of the last few years, but we will update you as soon as these are confirmed.
For the London games, The Jaguars are always the Home Team when they play at Wembley, which makes them technically the ‘away’ team at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but they are sure to be backed by plenty of fans every time the venture to the city, no matter which stadium they play in.
How to get tickets for the NFL London Games
As we mentioned earlier, the NFL London games have been a huge success when it comes to spreading the game to other countries. The UK has taken to the NFL in a way that would have been unthinkable 30 years, which the sell out stadiums will attest.
The issue is, though, that we only get three (at most matches) for us to enjoy in this country, and tickets sell out incredibly quickly. These games are about more than the two teams that are playing – you’ll find fans of all NFL teams wanting to be there. Detroit Lions fans at a match between the Tennessee Titans and the Los Angeles Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs fans at a game between the Jags and the Patriots. You get the idea.
So if you are looking for a hassle-free way of getting to watch one of these games, you may struggle to get general admission tickets. However, we can offer a range of Premium Packages that will not only guarantee your seat, but also provide you with an extra-special VIP ticket to give you a day to remember.
Whichever venue you would prefer, and both the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Wembley Stadium are blessed with some incredible hospitality facilities, we can provide you with tickets for the fixtures of your choice. Get in touch with our team today – we would love to hear from you.
