American Bowl

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For the championship game of the American Indoor Football League, see American Bowl (AIFL).

The American Bowl is the name of a series of National Football League pre-season exhibition games that are held at international sites outside the United States.

The league started 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. Since 1990, games have also been played in Montreal and Berlin to promote the new WLAF (later NFL Europe) which started in 1991. The 1997 game was played in Dublin, Ireland.

The largest crowd in NFL history was recorded at the American Bowl game at Mexico City August 15, 1994, when 112,376 people attended the game between the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Oilers.

At least one American Bowl game was played annually from 1986-2003. As many as four were played per year in the early 1990s. There were three games in 1998, two in 2000 and since then not more than one per year. There was no American Bowl game played in 2004 or 2006. Since 2000 all American Bowl games have been played in either Mexico or Japan.

The two teams that play in an American Bowl game are selected by the league. This game is always the fifth pre-season game for the teams involved instead of the normal four.

Not considered American Bowl games, were several earlier pre-season contests played outside the United States. Between 1950 and 1983, there were 13 American football games involving NFL or AFL teams played on foreign soil. Six games between 1950-1961 pitted NFL teams against CFL teams with the NFL team winning all six games. One game was played between the AFL and the CFL with the CFL team winning. Five games were between NFL teams and there was one game matching AFL and NFL. The first ten games were played in Canada (1950-1969) then in Tokyo (1976), Mexico City (1978), and London (1983).

Also, the pre-season game scheduled to take place on August 8, 2007 between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks at Workers Stadium in Beijing, China has been named the China Bowl instead of the American Bowl.

The only 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 the San Francisco 49ers, 31-14. The league does not officially record this as an American Bowl.

[edit] Game history

Date	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Score	Game site
August 3, 1986	Chicago Bears	17	Dallas Cowboys	6	London
August 9, 1987	Los Angeles Rams	28	Denver Broncos	27	London
July 31, 1988	Miami Dolphins	27	San Francisco 49ers	21	London
August 5, 1989	Los Angeles Rams	16	San Francisco 49ers	13	Tokyo
August 6, 1989	Philadelphia Eagles	17	Cleveland Browns	13	London
August 4, 1990	Denver Broncos	10	Seattle Seahawks	7	Tokyo
August 5, 1990	New Orleans Saints	17	Los Angeles Raiders	10	London
August 9, 1990	Pittsburgh Steelers	30	New England Patriots	14	Montreal
August 11, 1990	Los Angeles Rams	19	Kansas City Chiefs	3	Berlin
July 28, 1991	Buffalo Bills	17	Philadelphia Eagles	13	London
August 3, 1991	San Francisco 49ers	21	Chicago Bears	7	Berlin
August 3, 1991	Miami Dolphins	19	Los Angeles Raiders	17	Tokyo
August 1, 1992	Houston Oilers	34	Dallas Cowboys	23	Tokyo
August 15, 1992	Miami Dolphins	31	Denver Broncos	27	Berlin
August 16, 1992	San Francisco 49ers	17	Washington Redskins	15	London
July 31, 1993	New Orleans Saints	28	Philadelphia Eagles	16	Tokyo
August 1, 1993	San Francisco 49ers	21	Pittsburgh Steelers	14	Barcelona
August 7, 1993	Minnesota Vikings	20	Buffalo Bills	6	Berlin
August 8, 1993	Dallas Cowboys	13	Detroit Lions	13	London
July 31, 1994	Los Angeles Raiders	25	Denver Broncos	22	Barcelona
August 6, 1994	Minnesota Vikings	17	Kansas City Chiefs	9	Tokyo
August 13, 1994	New York Giants	28	San Diego Chargers	20	Berlin
August 15, 1994	Houston Oilers	6	Dallas Cowboys	0	Mexico City
August 5, 1995	Denver Broncos	24	San Francisco 49ers	10	Tokyo
August 12, 1995	Buffalo Bills	9	Dallas Cowboys	7	Toronto
July 27, 1996	San Diego Chargers	20	Pittsburgh Steelers	10	Tokyo
August 5, 1996	Kansas City Chiefs	32	Dallas Cowboys	6	Monterrey, Mexico
July 27, 1997	Pittsburgh Steelers	30	Chicago Bears	17	Croke Park Dublin, Ireland
August 4, 1997	Miami Dolphins	38	Denver Broncos	19	Mexico City
August 16, 1997	Green Bay Packers	35	Buffalo Bills	3	Toronto
August 1, 1998	Green Bay Packers	27	Kansas City Chiefs	24	Tokyo
August 15, 1998	San Francisco 49ers	24	Seattle Seahawks	21	Vancouver
August 17, 1998	New England Patriots	21	Dallas Cowboys	3	Mexico City
August 7, 1999	Denver Broncos	20	San Diego Chargers	17	Sydney
August 5, 2000	Atlanta Falcons	20	Dallas Cowboys	9	Tokyo
August 19, 2000	Indianapolis Colts	24	Pittsburgh Steelers	23	Mexico City
August 27, 2001	Dallas Cowboys	21	Oakland Raiders	6	Mexico City
August 3, 2002	Washington Redskins	38	San Francisco 49ers	7	Osaka, Japan
August 2, 2003	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	30	New York Jets	14	Tokyo
August 6, 2005	Atlanta Falcons	27	Indianapolis Colts	21	Tokyo