Given the interest generated here by the news that the NFL is coming to town later this year we feel there'll be lots of you wanting to satisfy your curiosity by catching this year's American Football showpiece, the Superbowl, live from Miami starting very late on Sunday night and continuing well into Monday morning. Now, obviously, you can do this in the quiet comfort of your own home courtesy of the free terrestrial coverage, but why not do as the Americans love to do and make a party of it amongst a crowd of passionate fans? Several London venues are showing the game, between the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts, on giant screens accompanied by food and late licenses.
An obvious place to consider is The Sports Café at 80 Haymarket, though it is very well known for this occasion and has been selling tickets since early December, so you would do well to fill in the enquiry form on their website to make sure that there are still places available.
The key selling point for the Cheers Bar at 72 Regent Street is their official NFL tag which means that customers "will also have the opportunity to win a variety of Super Bowl goodies including exclusive limited edition programmes, t-shirts and a pair of tickets to the World Bowl [in Frankfurt in June]." £12 pounds gets you entry and a bottle of beer while an extra £3 also secures a hot dog with curly fries.
Bodeans BBQ Smoke Houses in Soho, Clapham and Fulham charge £25, but offer in return a guaranteed seat (Cheers is unreserved) with a clear view of a 42 inch plasma screen, a pre-game "tailgate" of chicken wings and quesadillas and a halftime (circa 1am) feast of ribs, chicken, pulled pork, BBQ beans and coleslaw. We think that the Hard Rock Café is also planning something, but for some reason they absolutely insist on advertising their events around the world this Sunday night as featuring "The Big Game", possibly so as not to annoy Cheers in some way.
If you're homesick for the full Stateside experience you could join up with the London Expat American Meetup Group for their event, featuring live halftime cheerleaders no less, at The Walkabout on the Embankment at Temple Place. £10 now or £15 on the door will get you in, though it's not clear from the site exactly what that price includes. If you know of any other good venues for Sunday night let us know via the Comments link below.
While we're on the subject, lots of people want to know how to get tickets for the live NFL game at either Wembley or Twickenham in the autumn, so here's advance warning that there's going to be a big announcement this Friday, 2nd February, regarding many aspects of the event including the final choice of teams and venue and how tickets will be made available. The NFL London 2007 site should have the news first.
Photo via manwithbeard's Flickr stream.
