JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It'll be a division opponent and an early game for the first time in London next year for the Jaguars.
The NFL announced three games in London for 2016 on Wednesday, including the Jaguars facing the Indianapolis Colts as the home team at Wembley Stadium on Oct. 2, the fourth week of the season.
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The other games will be Oct. 23 with the St. Louis Rams as the home team against an NFC East opponent that finishes in the same spot in the division and Oct. 30 with the Cincinnati Bengals hosting Washington. '
If the Rams and Washington finish in the same spot in their divisions, the Redskins would be the first team to stay in London and play back-to-back games, in this case, both as the visitor.
The league will play the first and the last game at Wembley but St. Louis will host a game at Twickenham Stadium, home of the Totenham Hotspurs, for the first time.
"The passion our UK fans have shown for the NFL is overwhelming," said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. "We are very appreciative of the strong and growing fan support, not only for the games, but for all of the related NFL events we host in the UK throughout the year. We look forward to welcoming new fans to their first NFL game in 2016 and welcoming back thousands of others that are helping our sport grow to new levels of popularity in London and beyond."
No times have been announced for the games.
As of now, the Jaguars' game would be broadcast as an AFC game on CBS but could also be part of an international streaming broadcast, as it was in 2015. The league also said another International Series game outside of the UK (most likely Mexico City) will be announced at a later date.
At the conclusion of the 2016 season, either 23 or 24 teams will have played in London since the inception of the International Series in 2007. Since that time, the NFL has achieved accelerated growth in the UK. Sunday viewership of NFL games has more than doubled and the Super Bowl audience has increased more than 75 percent.
The league also has developed new and stronger business partnerships and, according to internal research, has a UK fan base of more than 13 million.
It'll be the earliest in the season the Jaguars have played in London, which means it'll also mean an early bye week. Teams playing in London always have their bye the following week, so for the Jaguars it'll be Week 5 in 2016.
It's not the first division game to be played in London. The Jets and Dolphins faced off at Wembley in an AFC East match up.
While the league is starting to move some games to Twickenham Stadium and will play two games a year there beginning in 2018, the Jaguars' home will always be Wembley, the national stadium in the UK.