Green light for NFL game at Wembley
Tickets for October’s sixth NFL regular-season game at Wembley are back on sale after the St Louis Rams resolved a legal hitch with the owners of their home stadium.
The Rams, who are owned by Arsenal’s majority shareholder Stanley Kroenke, agreed a fortnight ago to move one home game to London for each of the next three years.
They will meet the New England Patriots – who were defeated by the New York Giants in Sunday’s Super Bowl – on 28 October.
Tickets went on general sale last Thursday but were halted abruptly when details came to light of a clause in the Rams’ contract with owners of the Edward Jones Dome in St Louis, requiring that they play all eight home games each season in that stadium.
However, an NFL statement just before the Super Bowl kick-off said: “The Rams have achieved a resolution to the stadium lease issues that caused last week’s delay in the sales process and are excited about bringing their team to London.”
Rams officials are still in negotiations with the St Louis Convention and Visitors Commission over upgrades to the stadium and the team could leave St Louis in 2014 if their demands are not met.
The Rams moved to St Louis from Los Angeles in 1995 and rumours have suggested they could return to the West Coast.
New England will be making their second trip to London, having beaten the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Wembley in 2009.
Follow Martin Gough on Twitter