The final finishing touches were this morning being put to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as it prepares to stage its first-ever NFL match.
Oakland Raiders host Chicago Bears on Sunday in the first of two regular season gridiron games to be held at Spurs’ new home this month.
The stadium is the first built outside of North America with NFL specifically in mind and features a range of features bespoke to the sport.
Following Tottenham’s Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich on Tuesday, the grass football pitch was rolled underneath the South Stand to reveal the artificial surface to be used on Sunday.
The artificial surface sits 1.7 metres below the grass pitch, while the stadium also boasts two specialised NFL locker rooms, designed to host an entourage of more than 100 players and support staff.
Never before has a purpose-built NFL venue outside of the USA hosted a top-flight American Football contest and there is a sense of palpable excitement as Spurs - who have a 10-year partnership with the league to host a minimum of two games per year - prepare to showcase the artificial surface that lies beneath their retractable grass football pitch.
