The NFL returns this weekend as the American football season gets ready to dominate our London late evenings.
With just 157 days until Super Bowl LIX – this season held at Caesars Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana – all eyes will be on the Kansas City Chiefs as the look to win another title, while the chasing pack will be looking to hunt down the Missouri side.
Here are three story lines to keep an eye out for during this year.
Three-peat
Kansas City Chiefs, winners in 2022 and 2023, are looking to become the first team to complete back-to-back-to-back championships in the Super Bowl era. They were the first team to win two consecutive championships since the New England Patriots in 2003 and 3004.
The Green Bay Packers are the only team to have won three consecutive titles in the sport’s history but the trio of victories did not all come in the Super Bowl era.
Eight sides have won back-to-back Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys the last team to reach the Super Bowl in their bid for a third title, in 1996.
Tom Brady: “I’m not saying it can’t be done. It certainly can. And the Chiefs have a great opportunity to do it. They’ve got a lot of great pieces in place.”
All eyes on, too, apparently, Taylor Swift’s ongoing relationship with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Moving and shaking
One move pre-season that would have caught the eye of British fans would have been the departure from the Kansas City Chiefs’ wider roster for Louis Rees-Zammit.
The former British and Irish Lion has found himself in the practise squad of the Jacksonville Jaguars and, although he is unlikely to play this season in the NFL, could be in for a big marketing campaign when the side come to the British capital for the London Games series.
Elsewhere the NFL will play its first ever match in Brazil when the Eagles face the Packers in Sao Paulo on Monday night. Three of the other four international games will be in London with the other in Munich.
The draft, earlier in the year, saw 14 consecutive offensive players selected before the first defensive player; pointing to the direction in which teams think they need to strengthen.
Quarterbacks may have taken the top headlines again – even if front-line movement was minimal – but new rules and a ban on hip-drop tackles to reduce injuries will be interesting to keep note of.
Sportsradar’s AI-driven data simulations suggest Kansas City as the most likely team to be crowned champions on February 9th, 2025
NFL up for sale?
In an interesting move ahead of this season, NFL owners voted to allow private equity funds to purchase stakes in teams.
The move, which can see a total of 10 per cent of any team offloaded to a private equity firm, could pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the coffers of the 32 teams and see incredible valuations put on the teams.
Darren Bailey, consultant for Charles Russell Speechlys LLP, wrote in City A.M. this week that: “The NFL continues to set the standard in terms of on-field interest and commercial growth in the US and beyond.
“In this instance it has also demonstrated its ability to proactively manage and administer the sport, identifying a pragmatic and proportionate solution to private equity investment that provides liquidity, promotes team and infrastructure investment, and expands the market of potential team buyers, but without compromising its traditional values and structures or alienating fans.
“One wonders how many of those other leagues and teams that have perhaps under-regulated external, private investment activity and suffered the unintended consequences of such an approach would like to turn the clock back and do it the NFL way.”
So there you have it, a dummy guide to the NFL. Enjoy!
NFL week 1 fixtures
Baltimore Ravens @ Kansas City Chiefs
Green Bay Packers @ Philadelphia Eagles
Pittsburgh Steelers @ Atlanta Falcons
Arizona Cardinals @ Buffalo Bills
Tennessee Titans @ Chicago Bears
New England Patriots @ Cincinnati Bengals
Houston Texans @ Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars @ Miami Dolphins
Carolina Panthers @ New Orleans Saints
Minnesota Vikings @ New York Giants
Las Vegas Raiders @ Los Angeles Chargers
Denver Broncos @ Seattle Seahawks
Dallas Cowboys @ Cleveland Browns
Washington Commanders @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Los Angeles Rams @ Detroit Lions
New York Jets @ San Francisco 49ers