“NEVER before in Wembley’s rich history have fans headed towards the famous arch had to share their space with a marching band of American college students. That will be the case next September when young athletes in university, some who are paid millions of dollars, will be the headline act in north London. Sign up”, — write: www.thesun.co.uk
That will be the case next September when young athletes in university, some who are paid millions of dollars, will be the headline act in north London.
Thank you!
The Kansas Jayhawks will play the Arizona State Sun Devils at Wembley next yearCredit: Getty
College football games in the US are attended by up to 100,000 fansCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
Ohio State are the reigning national champions and earned a visit to the White House to meet President Donald TrumpCredit: AFP Wembley will host the first ever American college football game in the UK when the Union Jack Classic takes over the home of English football.
The Kansas Jayhawks face the Arizona State Sun Devils on September 19 in a Big 12 Conference game at the 90,000-seat stadium.
The stage and setting will be grand, but it’s hardly different to what happens every autumnal Saturday across America.
The NFL owns Sundays on the sporting calendar in the winter months, but it never encroaches on Saturdays during the college season.
That day is reserved for college football with millions of Americans watching and going through their game-day rituals.
Stadiums are packed out with up to 100,000 fans, more in some cases, all locked in for a college football game.
Students of the university are joined by residents of the local town, alumni who once studied there and even former players.
States like Alabama do not have a professional team and revolve around the college football programs.
Even in Texas, the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans have to share their fanbase with the Texas A&M Aggies in the town of College Station and the Texas Longhorns in Austin.
The Kansas Jayhawks play in the sleepy town of Lawrence which has a population of just under 100,000.
When they played rivals Kansas State last month, it was the only show in town.
The game kicked off at 11am local time with fans lining up on the streets to tailgate from 6am before the sun had risen.
Ex-NFL star Aqib Talib returned to the university where he played his college football, and comedian Rob Riggle was a star guest.
Riggle is also a fan of the nearby Kansas City Chiefs – a Super Bowl powerhouse with three titles since 2020.
Marching bands made up of university students are always presentCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
Teams have their own mascots – such as The Masked Rider at Texas TechCredit: Getty But you would barely know that Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and his superstar girlfriend Taylor Swift were less than an hour’s drive from this college town.
Homes in the area were decked out in Jayhawks gear, decorated as if it was Christmas or Halloween and visible for miles.
And the Jayhawks’ stadium was renamed after a donor who gave $50m towards the renovation.
David Booth’s donation was the largest gift the Kansas University athletics department has ever received.
He graduated from the university in 1969 with a master’s degree in business and went on to start a mutual fund company.
His parents were both residents of Lawrence and longtime fans of the Jayhawks.
While the NFL has made a huge push to become a global brand, college football has remained very American.
Think of the NFL as Halloween – a day on the calendar that Americans have long gone crazy for which has grown in other parts of the world in recent years.
Well college football is Thanksgiving – a distinctly American occasion which means so much domestically but has yet to catch on overseas.
Such is the passion for the sport in the US that some fans were left annoyed at the thought of it going overseas to London.
Games have been played in Dublin, Ireland for many years but the UK represents a step up.
Even President Donald Trump has tried to make changes to the game since returning to the White House for a second term in January.
“College sports are a uniquely American institution that provide life-changing educational and leadership-development opportunities to more than 500,000 student-athletes through almost $4 billion in scholarships each year,” he wrote in a White House executive order around the future of college sports this summer.
“College athletics also provide substantial support to local economies and form an indelible part of family activities, pastimes, and culture in many communities.”
Nineteen years ago, Wembley Stadium opened its doors to the NFL for the first time when the New York Giants took on the Miami Dolphins.
Since then, London has also hosted NBA regular-season games and MLB series.
And the next American export experiment is already lined up for 2026.
Wembley has hosted NFL games since 2007 and college football will come to town next yearCredit: Reuters