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NFL ramps up schedule in London with division matchup next season

Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo tosses a football to a child during a community day event Tuesday outside of Wembley Stadium in London. Dallas plays the Jaguars on Sunday in England as part of the International Series.
(Tim Ireland / Associated Press)
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London doesn’t have an NFL team yet, though it will host three more games than Los Angeles next season, including an AFC East division tilt between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Jets.

Since 2007, the NFL has played at least one game per season in Britain, but the matchup between the Dolphins and Jets on Oct. 4 will be the first division game played overseas.

“On a personal basis, and speaking for the Dallas Cowboys, we very much would like a team in London,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Thursday ahead of his team’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Wembley Stadium. “It has cachet. It has an air about it of international competition.

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“London is one of probably two or three cities outside the United States that really does have all of the criteria that I would look at for having an NFL team. I certainly know that one of the reasons we’re here this week playing Sunday is to help encourage interest and increase the interest in the game, increase the interest in the awareness of our game.”

In the other contests scheduled for next season in Britain, the Jaguars, who in 2012 became the first (and so far, only) NFL team to make a multi-year commitment to playing in London, are to host the Buffalo Bills on Oct. 25; the Detroit Lions are set to visit the Kansas City Chiefs on Nov. 1 at Wembley.

Jacksonville owner Shad Khan also owns the British soccer club Fulham F.C.

“I know that he’s a progressive thinker,” Jones said of Khan. “Certainly his interest that he has in playing here and potentially being involved more so in the future is one that we’re all aware of.”

The NFL added a second game to its International Series last season after previously scheduling only one game per year in Britain. This year, the league ramped up the schedule again, adding a third contest.

Earlier this season, the Lions defeated the Atlanta Falcons, 22-21, and the Dolphins beat the Oakland Raiders, 38-14, in Britain.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Follow Matt Wilhalme on Twitter @mattwilhalme

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