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TheAmerican Bowl was a series ofNational Football Leaguepreseason exhibition games that were held at sites outside the United States between 1986 and 2005.[1]
The league started theAmerican Bowl series in 1986 primarily to promoteAmerican football in other countries. After successful games in London'sWembley Stadium, the series was expanded to Japan. After 1990, games were also played inMontreal and Berlin to promote the newWorld League of American Football (laterNFL Europe) which started in 1991.
Several earlier pre-season games involved NFL teams and were played outside the United States, without being labeled "American Bowl" games. Between 1950 and 1983, there were 13 football games involving NFL orAFL teams played on foreign soil. Six games in Canada between 1950–1961 pitted NFL teams againstCFL teams with the NFL team winning all six games. These games were a hybrid of US and Canadian football. One game involved an AFL team (theBuffalo Bills, who lost 38–21 to the CFL'sHamilton Tiger-Cats).
The NFL and CFL also arranged games in each other's country as part of what NFL commissionerPete Rozelle called "harmonious relations" between the leagues. In 1960, theNew York Giants scheduled exhibitions in Montreal and Toronto in response to a1958 CFL matchup in Philadelphia; the Montreal game was subsequently canceled due to scheduling conflicts with theMontreal Alouettes, who opposed it as an "invasion" of their city.[2][3]
Five games also used the American Bowl format without the name prior to 1986. One of these games was an AFL–NFL matchup, Boston vs. Detroit on August 25, 1969. Firstly, two games were played inMontreal in 1969. Then NFL exhibition games took place inTokyo (1976), Mexico City (1978), and London (1983) before the termAmerican Bowl was coined. The game in Tokyo was called the "Mainichi Star Bowl" to reflect its sponsorsMainichi Shimbun andSports Nippon.[4] The game in London was called the "Global Cup".
At least oneAmerican Bowl game was played annually between 1986 and 2003. As many as four were played per year in the early 1990s. The two participating teams were selected by the league. The American Bowl was a fifth pre-season game, played the same weekend as thePro Football Hall of Fame Game, and did not take away a game from the participating teams' pre-season schedules.
The largest crowd in NFL history was recorded at the American Bowl game atMexico City on August 15, 1994, when 112,376 people attended theGovernor's Cup game between theDallas Cowboys andHouston Oilers.
In 1996 it was played inMonterrey at theEstadio Universitario. The 1997 game was played inDublin, Ireland,[5] as well as Toronto (Buffalo and Green Bay).
There were three games in1998, two in2000, and thereafter one per year. There was no American Bowl game played in 2004, and from 2000 to 2005 all American Bowl games were played in eitherMexico or Japan.
Two 1988 games in Montreal andGothenburg, Sweden, and a 1993 game in Toronto, are not classed as American Bowl games. This is because they were not arranged by the NFL but, rather, the scheduled home team elected to play there. Montreal held an American Bowl in 1990. At the time Montreal had noCFL team, after theConcordes/Alouettes had folded in 1987, but before thenew Alouettes relocated there in 1996. The NFL-backedWorld League saw theMontreal Machine franchise compete in 1991 and 1992.
The last American Bowl was held in 2005. After taking over the position in 2006, new NFL commissionerRoger Goodell cited the league's new international strategy in the abandonment of international pre-season games as well as the closure of what had by then becomeNFL Europa after its 2007 season, instead focusing on playing regular season games in foreign countries.
The pre-season game that was scheduled to take place in August 2007 (later postponed to 2009) between theNew England Patriots and theSeattle Seahawks atBeijing National Stadium inBeijing, China, was named theChina Bowl instead of theAmerican Bowl; that game, too, was eventually canceled before being played.
The firstregular season NFL game played outside the United States was held on October 2, 2005, atEstadio Azteca in Mexico City before an NFL regular-season record of 103,467 fans. TheArizona Cardinals defeated theSan Francisco 49ers, 31–14. TheNew York Giants andMiami Dolphins played a regular season game at the newly rebuiltWembley Stadium in London on October 28,2007 (with the Giants winning 13–10), the first ever NFL regular season game to be played outside of North America; similarly, theSan Diego Chargers andNew Orleans Saints followed suit in October2008. These games are termed the NFL International Series. In addition to these games, theBuffalo Bills began the Bills Toronto Series, a number of annual pre- and regular-season games inToronto; the Miami Dolphins beat the Bills 16–3 in the first such game on December 7, 2008. The series ran from 2008 to 2013.
| Team | GP | W | L | T | Pct | Pts for | Pts against |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta Falcons | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 47 | 30 |
| Buffalo Bills | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .500 | 35 | 75 |
| Chicago Bears | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 41 | 57 |
| Cleveland Browns | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 13 | 17 |
| Dallas Cowboys | 9 | 1 | 7 | 1 | .167 | 88 | 158 |
| Denver Broncos | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | .429 | 149 | 156 |
| Detroit Lions | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .500 | 13 | 13 |
| Green Bay Packers | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 62 | 27 |
| Houston Oilers | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 40 | 23 |
| Indianapolis Colts | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 45 | 50 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | 68 | 69 |
| Los Angeles Rams | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 63 | 43 |
| Miami Dolphins | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 115 | 84 |
| Minnesota Vikings | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 37 | 15 |
| New England Patriots | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 35 | 33 |
| New Orleans Saints | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 45 | 26 |
| New York Giants | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 28 | 20 |
| New York Jets | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 14 | 30 |
| Oakland/L.A. Raiders | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .250 | 58 | 79 |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 46 | 58 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .400 | 107 | 96 |
| San Diego Chargers | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 57 | 58 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | .500 | 134 | 162 |
| Seattle Seahawks | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 28 | 34 |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 30 | 14 |
| Washington Redskins | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | 53 | 24 |
