London’s NFL Game to Gross $3.5 Million

The exhibition game between the Chicago Bears and the Dallas Cowboys today at Wembley Stadium (Channels 4 and 39, 10 a.m. PDT) will gross $3.5 million--more than twice the record gate from last season’s FA Cup soccer final between Liverpool and Everton.

All 80,000 seats, priced from $7 to $30, were sold within 10 days of going on sale. Thousands of British fans were left disappointed at the Wembley box office, and scalpers this week have been selling seats for up to five times their face value.

“It’s incredible,” Wembley press officer Martin Corrie said Saturday. “Not even a Cup final has that kind of crowd pull.”

Today’s game--called the American Bowl--has been a runaway success in promotional terms, attracting extensive media interest. National Football League officials say it will almost certainly be an annual event.

“I believe there is an enormous market over here for the game,” Bear President Mike McCaskey said.

Two hours of highlights will be televised in Britain and Europe tonight.

By now, most British sports fans know Chicago thrashed Dallas, 44-0, last season on the way to winning the Super Bowl. And they are aware of the bitter rivalry between the Super Bowl champions and the Cowboys, known as “America’s Team”.