Tag: London

Formula 1 to host season launch event in London with all teams in 2025

Formula 1 has announced plans for a public season launch event in 2025, rather than having teams hosting individual car launches. In the past, each team would choose how and when it unveiled its new car, with recent years seeing a mix of online …

Formula 1 has announced plans for a public season launch event in 2025, rather than having teams hosting individual car launches.

In the past, each team would choose how and when it unveiled its new car, with recent years seeing a mix of online launches, physical events at either factories or special venues, or even trackside unveilings alongside shakedowns. However, in an attempt to collaborate across the grid, F1 has organized a launch event at London’s O2 Arena on February 18 of next year, where all teams, drivers and team principals will participate.

As well as the livery launches, there will be entertainment and special guest presenters for a show that is due to run from 8pm – 10pm local time in the United Kingdom.

“For the first time we will bring together our fans, all 20 superstars of our sport and some very special guests to officially kick off our new season and mark our 75th year of racing,” F1 CEO and president Stefano Domenicali said. “With 2025 set to be a classic season following all the drama so far in 2024, this is a fantastic opportunity for fans of all ages to experience up-close the incredible entertainment spectacle that is Formula 1.”

The event will be produced by Brian Burke who was also responsible for the opening and closing ceremonies at last year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix (pictured top), and will be open to fans. Tickets range from $74 to $145 and will go on sale at 10am GMT (5am ET, 2am PT) on Friday morning at: www.theo2.co.uk/F175live

“It’s an incredible honor to continue to partner with Formula 1 creating new entertainment experiences, especially this brand-new launch event of the 2025 season celebrating the 75th anniversary of the sport,” Burke said. Through our collaboration with all 10 teams, fans can be assured we’ll be delivering a truly exciting live experience combining the unveiling of the new liveries, interviews with the biggest names in F1, and cutting-edge entertainment. It will be a never-before-seen event not to be missed!”

F1 says the event will also be available to watch live globally, with broadcast details to be announced in the coming weeks.

 

Former Notre Dame tight end named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week

He surely never thought he’d add this to his trophy case.

If anyone proved how versatile they are in the NFL during the past week’s slate of games, it was [autotag]Cole Kmet[/autotag]. The former Notre Dame tight end, now with the Chicago Bears, was pressed into duty he likely never thought actually would come to pass.

While Kmet scored twice and had five receptions for 70 yards in the Bears’ 35-16 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in London, it was what he did on special teams that caught everyone’s attention.

Already down their primary long snapper, the Bears suddenly were faced with a pickle when backup long snapper Scott Daly was injured in the first quarter. Knowing Kmet was a long snapper in high school, they pressed him into duty for five extra-point attempts and one field-goal attempt.

Kmet’s performance impressed enough that he was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week. He is believed to be the first player in NFL history to win the award as a long snapper. The fact that he’s not even a true long snapper makes this even more impressive.

Congratulations to Kmet, and let’s hope he has even more success after the Bears’ bye week.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

Notre Dame’s Cassandre Prosper teaches French ahead of Olympics

Time to get educated.

Notre Dame guard [autotag]Cassandre Prosper[/autotag] missed most of this past season, but the next two weeks should help make up for that. She’s off to Paris to represent Canada for the 2024 Olympics. She’s incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity at this stage of her career.

To help get Irish fans in the Parisian spirit for the Olympics, Prosper, who hails from Montreal, shared a few French words and phrases on social media:

Those of you who took French in school might have known some of these already, but for everyone else, it’s a nice little educational moment.

This tweet was made the same Prosper scored six points in Canada’s pre-Olympic 77-74 victory over Australia in Spain. Former Irish standout [autotag]Natalie Achonwa[/autotag] contributed 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting and grabbed six rebounds.

Elsewhere, the U.S. bounced back from [autotag]Arike Ogunbowale[/autotag]’s All-Star MVP performance by topping Germany, 84-57, in its last game before the Olympics in London. [autotag]Jewell Loyd[/autotag] scored 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, and [autotag]Jackie Young[/autotag] had eight points.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Chiefs TE Travis Kelce wants an opportunity to play for an NFL team in London

Kansas City #Chiefs TE Travis Kelce wants an opportunity to play for an NFL team in London | @EdEastonJr

The broad appeal of the NFL internationally has helped build it into the powerhouse league it is today. The Kansas City Chiefs and their larger-than-life stars, including Travis Kelce, have reached fans in many countries, especially London, England.

The latest episode of New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce (Presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment) discussed Travis’ prospects of playing for a London-based NFL team.

“I’m waiting for that team (London) to play for another team other than the Chiefs,” said Kelce. “That’s the only situation is if I get to play abroad.”

The brothers recorded the latest episode from the Passyunk Avenue Bar in London, England. They were recapping their recent trip to London, including attending Taylor Swift’s ‘The Eras Tour’ and meeting the Royal family. Travis believes an NFL franchise could potentially be awarded to London.

“Less than ten years,” said Travis, “I don’t know for a fact it’s London.” Kelce has experience playing football in the UK. In 2015, the Chiefs defeated the Detroit Lions 45-10 at Wembley Stadium. He finished with six catches for 49 yards and a touchdown.

2024 NFL Schedule: Vikings to play Jets in London on Oct. 6

The NFL announced on Wednesday that the Minnesota Vikings will travel to London, England to face the New York Jets on October 6.

The NFL announced on Wednesday that the Minnesota Vikings will travel to London, England, to face the New York Jets on October 6. This will be the team’s fourth game in London in the last 12 seasons.

The game will be played in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, home to the English Premier League team of the same name. The stadium has hosted the Vikings before. Back in 2022, the Vikings played the New Orleans Saints in front of 60,039 fans as they went on to win 28-25.

That win was the Vikings’ third in London, and the team is undefeated heading into this year’s game against the Jets.

This game will also likely mark the first of which Aaron Rodgers faces off against his former NFC North rival since being traded to the New York Jets. It will be a big game atmosphere without those added stakes, which may also determine how early we see J.J. McCarthy starting for the Vikings with such a high-profile game early in the calendar.

The remainder of the 2024 Vikings schedule is set to be officially released at 8 P.M. EST/7 P.M. CST on Wednesday.

The winners, times, and top photos from London Marathon 2024

Check it out!

On the heels of the Boston Marathon, the 2024 London Marathon kicked off on Sunday, April 21. This internationally known race began creating a name for itself in 1981 and has grown to host tens of thousands of participants. According to Reuters, this year’s London Marathon hit a new record for attendance with 54,281 runners. Find out which of these runners came out on top, and see some incredible photos from the 44th London Marathon below.

The 2024 London Marathon winners were Kenya’s Alexander Mutiso with a time of 2:04:00 for the men’s race, and Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir with a time of 2:16:16 for the women’s race. Jepchirchir and second- and third-place runners Tigst Assefa and Joyciline Jepkosgei all beat the former women’s race record time of 2:17:01. This former record time was set by runner Mary Keitany during the 2017 London Marathon. Jepchirchir’s win sets a new women-only world record time.

In the elite women’s wheelchair race, Switzerland’s Catherine Debrunner won out with a time of 1:38:54. Another Swiss athlete, Marcel Hug, won the men’s wheelchair race with a time of 1:28:35.

Check out stunning snapshots from the race in the photo gallery below, and discover more cool marathons here.

Broncos won’t play in London or Germany next season

The Broncos will not play in England or Germany next season. Teams for the Brazil game have not been announced yet.

The NFL has announced four designated “home” teams for international games in 2024, and the Denver Broncos are not among them.

The Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings and Jacksonville Jaguars will “host” games in London, England and the Carolina Panthers will be the “home” team for a game in Munich, Germany next fall.

We know the Broncos won’t be the “away” team for the London or Germany games because the Bears, Vikings and Jaguars are not on Denver’s 2024 schedule, and the team’s game against the Panthers will be played at home.

There is one more international game on the NFL’s 2024 schedule set to be played in São Paulo, Brazil, but the Broncos are also unlikely to play in that contest.

The Miami Dolphins seem likely to be chosen as the “home” team for the Brazil game, but that has not been officially announced yet (the NFL said Thursday that the Brazil home team will be revealed “in the coming months”).

If Miami is the Brazil host as expected, Denver won’t have an international game next season because the Dolphins are not on the Broncos’ list of 2024 opponents.

Denver will play an international game by 2030 because every team is required to play at least one international contest every eight years (the club played in London in 2022).

If the Broncos are selected as a future “home” team, their most likely international destination is Mexico. The NFL will not play an international game in Mexico in 2024 due to Estadio Azteca renovations, but the league plans to return to Mexico City once those renovations are complete.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=482983128]

Back-to-back London games possible for Jaguars with Bears in U.K.

The Bears in London means the Jaguars could potentially play back-to-back games overseas again in 2024.

The NFL announced Thursday that the Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, and Jacksonville Jaguars will all play home games in London during the 2024 season, which raised the possibility that the Jaguars will again play back-to-back games overseas.

In October 2023, Jacksonville became the first team to play two international games in the same season when they played the Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills in London in consecutive weeks. The Week 4 game against the Falcons was designated as a home game, while the Week 5 game against the Bills was on the road.

“I think we want to see how it goes, what are some of the learnings from it, and I think if it works, we’d like for it to continue in the future,” Jaguars owner Shad Khan said before the first of the two games.

The trip worked out well for Jacksonville with the team picking up back-to-back wins that sparked a win streak through the remainder of October. Still, the Jaguars were fortunate that good weather allowed them to practice outdoors leading up to a game against the Bills.

The Bears are one of nine road opponents for the Jaguars in 2024. While it remains to be seen who Jacksonville will host at Wembley Stadium, the Jaguars could theoretically be the team that faces the Bears at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The NFL typically announces the schedule for the upcoming season in May.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Vikings to have home game in London in 2024

This will be the fourth game the Vikings will have played in London

The Minnesota Vikings are set to play in London for the second time in the last three years. The league announced on Thursday that the Vikings will be hosting a home game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium during the 2024 season.

The Vikings are 3-0 in regular season games in London. The last time the Vikings had a home game in London was the 2013 season where they beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 34-27. They also beat the Cleveland Browns 33-16 in 2017 and the New Orleans Saints 28-25 in 2022.

Who the Vikings will play in London is currently a mystery and will be announced during the schedule reveal in May.

[lawrence-related id=88783,89169,89143,89141,89134,87235,89129,89057,88720]

NFL targeting Brazil for a 2024 International Series game

The NFL is targeting Brazil for a 2024 International Series game. Which stadium could play host? Would you want the Saints to make the trip?

Now this is interesting. Multiple reports from NFL ownership meetings in Dallas say the league’s decision-makers will be voting on a potential 2024 regular season game to be played in Brazil, with a verdict coming as soon as Wednesday afternoon.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has made the league’s International Series a point of emphasis on his annual agenda — we may never see a Super Bowl played overseas or have an NFL team headquartered outside America, but Goodell clearly sees room for expansion in international markets. After kicking off games in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Mexico, he’s looking to Brazil as the next hotspot in 2024 (plus Spain in 2025, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports).

So where could that game be played? Venues used for recent international NFL games include London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (seating over 60,000) and Wembley Stadium (seating more than 85,000), Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca (capacity for 78,000 seats) as well as Germany’s stadiums in Munich (the 69,000-seat Allianz Arena) and Frankfurt (Deutsche Bank Park, seating about 51,000).

That’s an average capacity of about 68,600 seats. If that’s in the ballpark of what the NFL is looking for in a venue, São Paulo has one clear option: the Estadio do Morumbi (which opened in 1960, easily seating 66,000). The city is also home to the Arena Corinthians (opened in 2014, seating 49,000) and Estádio Prudentão (built in 1982, seating 45,000) as alternative sites.

Now, what you’re really here for: could the Saints be involved? The answer to that is a soft “maybe.” New Orleans will not lose another home game to an international game in 2024 after doing so in 2022’s matchup with the Minnesota Vikings in London. NFL ownership previously agreed that every team would play a “home” game overseas once every eight years, but they’re voting soon on whether to shorten that to a four-year gap, so the Saints could make the trip as visitors.

An NFC team is expected to host the game in Brazil (if approved by league ownership), per Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, and the Saints have away games scheduled in 2024 with the following opponents in their conference:

  • Atlanta Falcons
  • Carolina Panthers
  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers
  • Dallas Cowboys
  • New York Giants
  • Same-place NFC North team (right now, the Green Bay Packers)

We can rule out the Packers, Falcons, and Buccaneers because they have “hosted” international games in recent years, leaving the Panthers, Cowboys, and Giants as options to host. We should acknowledge the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, and Chicago Bears are eligible to host the game in Brazil if the Saints end up playing a difference NFC North team in 2024, depending on how the final divisional standings shake out.

But there’s another factor to consider: the NFL’s international marketing rights for Brazil have been awarded to just one team, the Miami Dolphins. It’s likely they would want the Dolphins to be involved because of that (or at least, the Dolphins would want to be involved), even if they’re playing as visitors. Miami has made a number of overseas appearances including a game in Frankfurt this year. They’re a likelier fit than the Saints.

[lawrence-auto-related count=4]