The American Bowl was a series of National Football League pre-season exhibition games that were held at sites outside the United States between 1986 and 2005.
21-637: Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium formerly known as the Estadi de Montjuïc and Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc and also known in English as the Barcelona Olympic Stadium , is a stadium in Barcelona , Catalonia , Spain. Originally built in 1927 for the 1929 International Exposition in the city (and Barcelona's failed bid for the 1936 Summer Olympics , which were awarded to Berlin ), it
42-701: A friendly football match between the Catalan national team and Bolton Wanderers , which the Catalan team won by a shocking score of 4–0 with goals from Josep Samitier (2), Martí Ventolrà and Manuel Parera . It was meant to host the People's Olympiad in 1936, a protest event against the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin , but the event had to be canceled due to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War . In
63-595: Is because they were not arranged by the NFL but, rather, the scheduled home team elected to play there. Montreal held an American Bowl in 1990. At the time Montreal had no CFL team, after the Concordes/Alouettes had folded in 1987, but before the new Alouettes relocated there in 1996. The NFL-backed World League saw the Montreal Machine franchise compete in 1991 and 1992. The last American Bowl
84-581: The 1975 F1 race was nearly boycotted by drivers. During the Barcelona's bid for the 1992 Summer Olympics , the stadium was totally renovated with the involvement of Italian architect Vittorio Gregotti . The stadium was gutted, preserving parts of the original facades, and new grandstands were built. In 1989, the venue was re-inaugurated for the World Cup in Athletics , and three years later it hosted
105-590: The American Bowl series in 1986 primarily to promote American football in other countries. After successful games in London's Wembley Stadium , the series was expanded to Japan. After 1990, games were also played in Montreal and Berlin to promote the new World League of American Football (later NFL Europe ) which started in 1991. Several earlier pre-season games involved NFL teams and were played outside
126-883: The Camp Nou . The club plan to continue playing at the Estadi Olímpic until the redevelopment of the Camp Nou is completed by the 2025–26 season. 41°21′53″N 2°9′20″E / 41.36472°N 2.15556°E / 41.36472; 2.15556 Montju%C3%AFc Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.132 via cp1112 cp1112, Varnish XID 941900574 Upstream caches: cp1112 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 07:56:59 GMT American Bowl The league started
147-577: The Denver Broncos . In 2001, the stadium was renamed after the former president of the Generalitat de Catalunya Lluís Companys , who was executed at the nearby Montjuïc Castle in 1940 by the Franco regime . In 2010, the stadium hosted the 20th European Athletics Championships . Since the 2023–24 season , the stadium has served as the home ground for Barcelona during the redevelopment of
168-597: The Montreal Alouettes , who opposed it as an "invasion" of their city. Five games also used the American Bowl format without the name prior to 1986. One of these games was an AFL–NFL matchup, Boston vs. Detroit on August 25, 1969. Firstly, two games were played in Montreal in 1969. Then NFL exhibition games took place in Tokyo (1976), Mexico City (1978), and London (1983) before the term American Bowl
189-818: The New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks at Beijing National Stadium in Beijing , China, was named the China Bowl instead of the American Bowl ; that game, too, was eventually canceled before being played. The first regular season NFL game played outside the United States was held on October 2, 2005, at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City before an NFL regular-season record of 103,467 fans. The Arizona Cardinals defeated
210-642: The San Francisco 49ers , 31–14. The New York Giants and Miami Dolphins played a regular season game at the newly rebuilt Wembley Stadium in London on October 28, 2007 (with the Giants winning 13–10), the first ever NFL regular season game to be played outside of North America; similarly, the San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints followed suit in October 2008 . These games are termed
231-621: The 1992 Olympics), it is the sixth-largest stadium in Spain and the second largest in Catalonia. The stadium is located in the Anella Olímpica , on Montjuïc , a hill to the southwest of the city that overlooks the harbor. Designed by architect Pere Domènech i Roura for the 1929 Expo , the stadium was officially opened on 20 May 1929. The opening ceremonies included Spain 's first official rugby international game against Italy , and
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#1732780619907252-631: The CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats ). The NFL and CFL also arranged games in each other's country as part of what NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle called "harmonious relations" between the leagues. In 1960, the New York Giants scheduled exhibitions in Montreal and Toronto in response to a 1958 CFL matchup in Philadelphia ; the Montreal game was subsequently canceled due to scheduling conflicts with
273-524: The United States, without being labeled "American Bowl" games. Between 1950 and 1983, there were 13 football games involving NFL or AFL teams played on foreign soil. Six games in Canada between 1950–1961 pitted NFL teams against CFL teams with the NFL team winning all six games. These games were a hybrid of US and Canadian football. One game involved an AFL team (the Buffalo Bills , who lost 38–21 to
294-556: The fifties, the stadium was the centerpiece of the 1955 Mediterranean Games , and in 1957 it hosted the only national football cup final between Barcelona and Espanyol , the two local clubs. In the seventies, the stadium was disused and the stands deteriorated. When the Spanish Grand Prix and other races were held at the Montjuïc racing circuit , the stadium was used as a paddock for the teams. Due to safety concerns,
315-626: The opening and closing ceremonies and all the athletics competitions of the Olympic Games and also the same functions during the Paralympics. The stadium served as the home of Espanyol from 1997 until 2009. It also served as the home of the Barcelona Dragons American football team from 1991 until 2002. Because the size of the playing surface was slightly shorter than the regulation American Football length,
336-753: The same weekend as the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game , and did not take away a game from the participating teams' pre-season schedules. The largest crowd in NFL history was recorded at the American Bowl game at Mexico City on August 15, 1994, when 112,376 people attended the Governor's Cup game between the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Oilers . In 1996 it was played in Monterrey at the Estadio Universitario . The 1997 game
357-635: The stadium only had seven-yard end zones, three yards shorter than regulation NFL size in 1991 and 1992. They were later lengthened to the standard ten yards. The stadium also played host to the National Football League 's American Bowl in 1993 and in 1994. The San Francisco 49ers played the Pittsburgh Steelers on 1 August 1993. The second game was played on 31 July 1994 between the Los Angeles Raiders and
378-481: Was coined. The game in Tokyo was called the "Mainichi Star Bowl" to reflect its sponsors Mainichi Shimbun and Sports Nippon . The game in London was called the "Global Cup". At least one American Bowl game was played annually between 1986 and 2003. As many as four were played per year in the early 1990s. The two participating teams were selected by the league. The American Bowl was a fifth pre-season game, played
399-507: Was held in 2005. After taking over the position in 2006, new NFL commissioner Roger Goodell cited the league's new international strategy in the abandonment of international pre-season games as well as the closure of what had by then become NFL Europa after its 2007 season, instead focusing on playing regular season games in foreign countries. The pre-season game that was scheduled to take place in August 2007 (later postponed to 2009) between
420-527: Was played in Dublin , Ireland, as well as Toronto (Buffalo and Green Bay). There were three games in 1998 , two in 2000 , and thereafter one per year. There was no American Bowl game played in 2004, and from 2000 to 2005 all American Bowl games were played in either Mexico or Japan. Two 1988 games in Montreal and Gothenburg , Sweden, and a 1993 game in Toronto, are not classed as American Bowl games. This
441-502: Was renovated in 1989 to be the main stadium for the 1992 Summer Olympics and 1992 Summer Paralympics . It is used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Barcelona since the 2023–24 season, due to the renovation of their regular ground, the Camp Nou . The stadium is named after Lluís Companys , the president of Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War. With its current capacity of 54,367 seats (67,007 during
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