Why is American college football at Wembley? Everything you need to know about Arizona State v Kansas, kick-off time, TV coverage, London events – and the Welsh connection
AMERICAN college football is coming to Wembley – and this is no exhibition match.
The Kansas Jayhawks and Arizona State Sun Devils meet at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 19 September 2026 in the inaugural Union Jack Classic, a genuine Big 12 Conference game being transported thousands of miles across the Atlantic.
It will be the first college football game staged at the present Wembley Stadium and is being promoted as the first NCAA Division I/FBS college football game played in the UK. Kansas are officially the home team despite the rather unusual surroundings.
For British spectators unfamiliar with college football, expect considerably more than four quarters of American football. Marching bands, cheerleaders, tailgating, pep rallies and the elaborate traditions of a US college game day are all part of the package.
And the party has already started in London.
WHAT IS THE UNION JACK CLASSIC?
The Union Jack Classic is a new international college-football series designed to bring the American college game to Britain.
Saturday’s first edition features two teams from the Big 12, one of the major conferences competing at the highest level of US college football.
Unlike a pre-season friendly, the result counts. This is part of the regular Big 12 schedule, with Kansas designated as the home team.
Organisers are trying to recreate the full American Saturday experience rather than simply bringing over two football teams. The official event promises tailgate parties, marching-band performances and the pageantry which helps make college football such an extraordinary phenomenon in the United States.
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WHEN IS ARIZONA STATE v KANSAS AT WEMBLEY?
The game takes place on Saturday 19 September.
Wembley currently lists kick-off at 5.10pm, with general admission opening at 3pm. Hospitality opens at 2pm. Spectators are being encouraged to arrive early because of stadium security arrangements.
Ticketmaster still lists the event for general sale, subject of course to availability. Anyone making late plans should check the official Union Jack Classic or Wembley Stadium information before travelling.
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CAN I WATCH THE UNION JACK CLASSIC ON TELEVISION?
In the United States, the game is being shown on FS1, with kick-off scheduled for 11am Central Time.
FOX is making a major occasion of it by bringing its Big Noon Kick-off pre-game programme to London. The show begins at 9am Central Time before handing over to the live game coverage.
UK listings also currently have Arizona State v Kansas scheduled on Sky Sports NFL from 5pm.
So What’s the Welsh Connection and What Happened to Louis Rees-Zammit’s NFL dream?
There is an obvious Welsh connection whenever American football comes to Britain.
Louis Rees-Zammit stunned Welsh rugby in January 2024 when he stepped away from the sport and joined the NFL’s International Player Pathway programme.
The Penarth-raised winger possessed the raw quality NFL teams immediately understood: exceptional speed. At his pro-day workout he ran the 40-yard dash in around 4.43 seconds and subsequently signed with the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
But speed alone does not make an NFL player.
Rees-Zammit was attempting in a matter of months to learn skills that many American players had practised since childhood. He had to master completely different tactics, terminology, blocking assignments, route-running and ball-carrying techniques while adjusting to helmets, pads and the specialist demands of American football.
He himself admitted early in the process that the sheer amount he had to learn was one of the greatest challenges.
Kansas City used him at running back and on special teams during the 2024 pre-season but waived him when reducing their roster. He subsequently joined the Jacksonville Jaguars, initially on their practice squad and later signing to their active off-season roster as a wide receiver.
He ultimately left the NFL in August 2025 without appearing in a regular-season game and returned to rugby, later saying he felt continuing in American football would mean he was “wasting his talent”.
It would therefore be unfair simply to say Rees-Zammit wasn’t athletic enough.
If anything, his experience illustrated just how difficult it is for even an elite international sportsman to enter one of the world’s most specialised sports in his twenties and compete with players who have spent years mastering it.
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WHICH OTHER WELSHMAN HAVE TRIED THEIR LUCK IN AMERICAN FOOTBALL?
Rees-Zammit was certainly not the first.
Perhaps the most entertaining Welsh-American football story belongs to former Wales full-back Paul Thorburn.
Thorburn’s extraordinary long-range kicking for Wales attracted the attention of the Los Angeles Rams, who signed him to a one-game contract when they played the Denver Broncos in an American Bowl pre-season fixture at – appropriately enough – Wembley in 1987.
Thorburn was brought in primarily to kick off and did indeed take a kick during the game, although the experiment did not develop into an NFL career.
More recently, Evan Williams from Bridgend travelled to the United States originally on a rugby scholarship before becoming a punter for Missouri Western State University.
Williams was named third-team All-MIAA in 2023 and openly pursued the possibility of progressing towards the NFL. His journey was documented by S4C in The Big Kick.
And another Wales and British & Irish Lions wing, Alex Cuthbert, revealed in 2025 that he had undertaken an American-football trial back in 2017, although he admitted it did not go particularly well.
So the relationship between Welsh rugby players and American football goes back considerably further than LRZ.
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WHAT’S HAPPENING IN LONDON AHEAD OF THE UNION JACK CLASSIC?
Quite a lot – and that is one reason Friday may be almost as important as Saturday for creating the atmosphere.
Today, Arizona State’s Spirit Squad, marching band and mascot Sparky are appearing at the adidas flagship store at 425 Oxford Street from 2.30pm to 4.30pm.
Then the celebrations move to the Leake Street tunnels at Waterloo, where the official Union Jack Classic pre-game party runs from 5pm until 11pm.
General admission is free, with the Kansas and Arizona State bands and cheerleaders scheduled together during the evening alongside entertainment including rapper Tech N9ne, B2Wins and DJ Special Ed.
On Saturday, tailgating and other pre-game entertainment continue around Wembley as organisers attempt to give British spectators a taste of what an American college football Saturday is really like.
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WHO ARE ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS AND KANSAS JAYHAWKS?
Both arrive in London with 1–1 records, so there is plenty at stake.
Kansas opened with a 51–6 victory over LIU before losing 38–21 against No.23 Missouri.
Quarterback Isaiah Marshall has thrown for 414 yards and four touchdowns through his first two career starts, while receiver Nik McMillan has 182 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Arizona State also arrive following defeat, losing 48–20 at No.10 Texas A&M last weekend.
There are some potentially explosive players to watch. Sun Devils quarterback Cutter Boley has already thrown for 641 yards and eight touchdowns this season, while receiver Reed Harris has 326 yards and four touchdown catches through just two games.
So although much of the publicity surrounds the novelty of playing at Wembley, neither team has crossed the Atlantic merely for sightseeing.
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WHY IS COLLEGE FOOTBALL SO BIG IN AMERICA?
This can be difficult to appreciate from Britain.
College football is theoretically university sport, but at its highest level it operates on an enormous scale, with packed stadiums, national television coverage, huge coaching salaries and fan bases whose allegiances often run through generations of the same family.
The atmosphere can feel closer to European club football than most British visitors might expect.
The marching bands, mascots, student sections, tailgating and long-established rivalries are not decoration around the sport – they are a large part of what makes college football distinctive.
That may explain why the organisers have brought so much of the surrounding culture to London rather than concentrating solely on Saturday’s match.
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COULD BIG-TIME AMERICAN FOOTBALL COME TO CARDIFF, WALES?
Now for the obvious Ewegottalove question.
If Wembley can stage college football, why not Cardiff?
The Principality Stadium appears to have many of the physical ingredients required.
It has 73,931 seats, a playing surface measuring 120 metres by 79 metres and, of course, its famous retractable roof. It was designed from the outset as a multi-use venue rather than purely a rugby ground.
So accommodating an American-football field should not be the fundamental obstacle.
The much more interesting question is whether Cardiff could attract enough spectators for an NFL or major college game.
We shouldn’t assume that almost 74,000 seats would automatically be filled. But Wales has repeatedly demonstrated an appetite for major one-off stadium occasions, while Cardiff’s city-centre stadium gives it one advantage few huge sporting arenas can match.
With the NFL continuing to stage regular-season games overseas and college football now testing the British market, could the Principality Stadium eventually become another home for the American game?
Would ewe go?
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COULD THE UNION JACK CLASSIC BECOME A REGULAR FIXTURE?
That appears to be the ambition.
The Union Jack Classic has been presented from the outset as more than a one-off match, with organisers talking about creating an annual international college-football presence in Britain. The project’s chairman has said there is a multi-year agreement with Wembley.
The real test comes this weekend.
If British spectators embrace not just the game but the marching bands, cheerleaders, tailgating and traditions surrounding it, Saturday could become the beginning of something rather larger.
And perhaps one day that expansion need not stop at London.
Cardiff, anyone?
Did Ewe Know?
Saturday will not actually be London’s first encounter with American college football.
Back in 1988, Richmond played Boston University in the capital. What makes this weekend historic is that it brings top-level FBS/Division I college football to Britain and college football to Wembley for the first time.