They can watch our games, we’ll watch their’s

In recent years many of the top English and European football clubs have had pre-season tours and exhibition games in the US in the hope of building a new fan base and cashing in on it. Now the major American sports are sending teams the other way trying to do the same thing.

Following on from the NFL announcing a regular season game will take place between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants at the new Wembley stadium on 28 October, the NHL (National Hockey League) has agreed that the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks will play their first two regular season games this year at the O2 arena, inside the old Millennium Dome, on 29-30 September.

Trying not to be out done the NBA (National Basketball Association) has arranged for the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves to play a game at the O2 on 10th October as part of their NBA Europe Live Tour.

Tickets for the Kings/Ducks ice hockey games are £25-£65 and are on Saturday 29th September at 8pm and Sunday 30th September at 5pm. The Celtics/Timberwolves game is on Wednesday 10th October at 7.30pm and tickets for that are £15-£85. I’m pretty sure there are enough Basketball and Ice Hockey fans in London and the southeast to easily sellout these three games, it’ll be interesting to see how much media coverage they get over here as it will be two months into the football season and the Rugby World Cup will be getting towards its climax.