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NFL to Kick off China Bowl

Two-time Super Bowl MVP quarter back Tom Brady is looking forward to playing in the first China Bowl next summer in Beijing.

The official announcement that New England Patriots would face the Seattle Seahawks in an exhibition game on August 8, 2007, exactly one year before the Olympic Games begin in China, was made on September 24 by NFL (National Football League) Commissioner Roger Goodell. The NFL will be the second professional US sport league to play in China after the NBA (National Basketball Association).

Goodell said there was great interest among teams in playing in the first NFL game in China. The Patriots and Seahawks were chosen because of their on-field success and “because we think they represent the best of the United States and the best of the NFL both on the field and off the field.” The Patriots have won three of the last five Super Bowls. The Seahawks lost last season’s title game.

The trip will force coaches of both teams to adjust their training camp schedules. Patriots owner Robert Kraft said he discussed his decision to go to China with the team. Each team will play five exhibition games, one more than the usual number.

The NFL’s strength has been its ability to increase revenues, Kraft said. “The players and the coaches and the organizations have been the biggest beneficiaries. If we don’t do things like this, I think we’ll lose our pre-eminence in US sport.”

The Patriots’ trip will begin with an exhibition game on August 2 against the Seahawks in Seattle. The August 8 game will be at Workers Stadium, a soccer venue for the 2008 Olympics, and will be the 42nd NFL game played outside the US–all but one in the preseason.

The game in China “seems like an absolute natural,” because it is “the greatest growing new society,” said Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports & Olympic. “It’s hard to call China a new society, but to so many of us it has become a new society.” The football game will begin at 8:30 p.m. in China and, because of the 12-hour time difference, will be telecast live in the United States at 8:30 a.m. eastern daylight time on August 9.

In a statement, Seattle Seahawks Chairman Paul Allen said, “We are proud of the Pacific Northwest’s deep cultural and business ties to China. We look forward to developing relationships surrounding this game that will have a lasting impact and that will serve as a legacy of our participation in this historic event.”

The game will be televised live in China in primetime by China Central Television.