Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill could be among those heading for Wembley in 2015
For the first time ever, the UK will be hosting an NFL divisional rivalry when the Miami Dolphins play the New York Jets on Sunday, October 4.
That will be followed by the Jacksonville Jaguars taking on the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, October 25, while the third game will see the Kansas City Chiefs play the Detroit Lions on Sunday, November 1.
Announcing the Wembley 2015 matches, which will all be broadcast live on Sky Sports, NFL Executive Vice-President International Mark Waller said: "We wanted to do a divisional rivalry, we've never had a divisional rivalry played in the UK before.
"Getting the Jets and the Dolphins to kick off the season is huge and then we wanted to do back-to-back games. We also wanted some new teams who haven't been before so you've got three new teams. The Jets have never been before, the Bills or the Kansas City Chiefs.
"Divisional rivalries are huge, you play your divisional rivalry home and away, so that's the only fixture that you have twice in a season, so our ability to bring UK fans a divisional rivalry, and one as intense as the Dolphins and the Jets, that's a huge rivalry and a real treat for UK fans.
"The Dolphins at the moment are on a roll, they're playing really well this season. The Jets are in a period of transition and rebuilding, and that game early in the season, in Week 4, will give you a great read for those teams going into next season."
The kick-off times for the 2015 Wembley games have not yet been finalised but this year a UK lunchtime kick-off - breakfast time in the US - was trialled.
Waller said: "We had great success with that early game, both in the UK - feedback from our fans here was great - and the rating in the US was very strong, the last quarter was nearly a 10 rating. For Atlanta and Detroit, the games worked really well for their fans locally on early broadcast."
One reason for trying out back-to-back games on consecutive weekends at Wembley will be to test out how the pitch survives the rigours of American football.
"We obviously want to see if the field will hold up," Waller said. "The other thing in our game is we paint the field, we put a lot of the team branding on the field. So our ability to switch out that and really put on a top class field product is a really important test."
The Kansas City Chiefs will be giving up a home game to make their first appearance in London.
"I'm very excited," said Waller. "That's a huge gesture by them, it's a real demonstration of their commitment to support the international agenda, so we're very pleased to have them."
For UK fans, Waller also held out the possibility of the number of NFL games being stepped up even further in 2016.
"Our goal, to be honest, was to grow more games in 2015 but with the Rugby World Cup and the availability of Wembley, three games is the maximum we can realistically do in 2015, but I'd like to think in 2016 we can up it again."
SkySports News
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