
"I've been talking about doing this for years, since they started this - I couldn't wait to get over. I wanted to go over early to experience a bit of that culture, to be able to get out, see some sights and interact with fans, go to a pub and have a Guinness or whatever the local brew is. Any time there's a minute adjustment to the schedule, it throws them all out of whack." But you just do it, so it is what it is."īut Rodgers, 38, downplayed that comment by saying: "Coaches are creatures of habit, even more than players. "It feels like a Thursday night game for us as coaches, just in terms of all the preparation you've got to do.
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"I'm not going to give you my honest answer. There will also be the more familiar sight of a soccer ball at the home of Spurs as Green Bay receiver Allen Lazard has taken to doing keepie uppies during his pre-game warm-up.īoth the Packers and the Giants arrived on Friday, and Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur has made it clear how he feels about having to squeeze a trans-Atlantic flight and acclimatisation into their game week.
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Many even wear foam or plastic cheese hats, plenty of which will be on show this Sunday - they were on sale at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last Sunday when this year's London Games kicked off with a nail-biting win for the Minnesota Vikings. While the Packers took their name from a meat-packing company, their fans call themselves 'cheeseheads' because Wisconsin produces about a quarter of America's cheese. Rodgers hopes to find time for a Guinness 'or whatever the local brew is' The Lambeau Leap is a touchdown celebration that has been performed by many NFL players since LeRoy Butler first did it with the Packers in 1993 It means each team will stage one 'home' game overseas every eight seasons.Īnd with the Packers scheduled for nine home games in 2022, the time had come to finally fly across the Atlantic. external-linkīeing Wisconsin's only NFL team, the Packers attract fans from across the state so home games are a significant boost to the local economy.īut when the NFL expanded the regular season to 17 games in 2021, team owners agreed to a rotating international schedule. Typically, just 70-100 fans come off the list each year, and some of this year's lucky ones had been waiting for nearly 50 years. The demand for tickets is huge - the Packers told BBC Sport that this summer the waiting list for season tickets stood at 147,000. About 75% of its population of 107,395 would fit into Lambeau Field, which holds 81,441. Today, Green Bay is the smallest city to host an NFL team.

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Winners of a record 13 NFL championships, including the pre-Super Bowl era, they are led by quarterback Aaron Rodgers, named the league's Most Valuable Player for a fourth time last season.Īnd they will make their British bow against another of the NFL's legendary teams, eight-time champions the New York Giants. But the Green Bay Packers will become the 32nd and final NFL team to play in the UK on Sunday.
