The NFL is moving the location of three games that were set to take place next month at London’s new Tottenham stadium.
According to a report from The Seattle Times, the games will now be played at Wembley stadium, as the new Tottenham stadium, which is in the final stages of construction, won’t be ready for the first of the NFL games, a match between the Seattle Seahawks and the Oakland Raiders on Oct. 14.
Tottenham officials said there were still “issues with the critical safety systems” at the 62,000-seat stadium.
“We appreciate the support our partner the NFL has shown since the extent of this issue became evident today,” Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy said Monday.
The stadium is being built on the site of the old White Hart Lane stadium as a home for the English Premier League club Tottenham. It’s just 12 miles from Wembley and will also host this year’s Oct. 21 game between the Tennessee Titans and the Los Angeles Chargers, and the meeting between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Jacksonville Jaguars, a week later.
The NFL has signed a 10-year deal with Tottenham.
“We totally understand the issue,” Mark Waller, the NFL’s executive vice president of international, said. “We shall continue to work with them towards making our future games at Spurs a huge success. The new stadium will be an amazing venue for the NFL and we are very excited about our long-term partnership with Tottenham Hotspur.”
The NFL is familiar with hosting games at Wembley. Initially, all games in the International Series were held in London, with Wembley Stadium acting as the exclusive home stadium for International Series games from 2007 to 2015.
