American Bowl The American Bowl was a series of National Football League pre - season exhibition games that were held at sites outside the United States between 1986 and 2005 . Overview . The league started the " American Bowl " series in 1986 primarily to promote American football in other countries . After successful games in London ' s Wembley Stadium , the series was expanded to Japan . Since 1990 , games have also been played in Montreal and Berlin to promote the new WLAF ( later NFL Europe ) which started in 1991 . The 1997 game was played in Dublin , Ireland . These games usually played at times of local convenience ; in the case of games in Japan , it was common for games to start at 5 : 00 AM local time . The largest crowd in NFL history was recorded at the " American Bowl " game at Mexico City August 15 , 1994 , when 112 , 376 people attended the Governor ' s Cup game between the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Oilers . The American Bowl was a fifth pre - season game , played the same weekend as the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game , and did not take away a game from the participating teams ' pre - season schedules . At least one " American Bowl " game was played annually from 1986 - 2003 . As many as four were played per year in the early 1990s . There were three games in 1998 , two in 2000 and since then not more than one per year . There was no " American Bowl " game played in 2004 , and in its last few years all " American Bowl " games were played in either Mexico or Japan . The two teams that play in an American Bowl game are selected by the league . This game is always the fifth pre - season game for the teams involved instead of the normal four . Not considered " American Bowl " games were several earlier pre - season contests played outside the United States . Between 1950 and 1983 , there were 13 football games involving NFL or AFL teams played on foreign soil . Six games between 1950 - 1961 pitted NFL teams against CFL teams with the NFL team winning all six games . These games were a hybrid of US and Canadian football . One game was played between the AFL and the CFL ( AFL ' s Buffalo Bills and CFL ' s Hamilton Tiger - Cats , with Hamilton winning 38 - 21 ) . All these games were held in Canada . There was also a game in 1960 that pitted the Chicago Bears against the New York Giants played in Canada ; this was in return for a 1958 CFL matchup that was played in Philadelphia . The next five games were of the same format as the American Bowl ( without the name ) and featured four games between NFL teams and one game between an AFL team and an NFL team ( Boston vs . Detroit , 8 / 25 / 69 ) . The first two of these games were played in Montreal ( 1969 ) , then in Tokyo ( 1976 ) , Mexico City ( 1978 ) , and London ( 1983 ) before the term " American Bowl " was coined . The game in London was called the " Global Cup " . There have been three international pre - season games during the " American Bowl " era that did not receive the American Bowl name : two 1988 matches in Montreal and Gothenburg , Sweden and a 1993 match in Toronto . These games were not part of the American Bowl series because they were not arranged by the NFL but , rather , the scheduled home team elected to play there . The Montreal match , as well as an American Bowl in the same venue in 1990 , came during a time when Montreal did not have a Canadian Football League team ( the Concordes / Alouettes had folded in preseason in 1987 , while the new Alouettes would not relocate to the city until 1996 ) . Montreal would also host the Montreal Machine of the NFL - backed World League of American Football in 1991 and 1992 . The last American Bowl was held in 2005 . NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell cited the league ' s new international strategy in the abandonment of international pre - season games as well as the closure of NFL Europe , instead focusing on playing regular season games in foreign countries . The pre - season game that was scheduled to take place in August 2007 ( later postponed to 2009 ) between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks at Beijing National Stadium in Beijing , China has been named the " China Bowl " instead of the " American Bowl " ; that game , too , was eventually canceled before being played . Post - American Bowl . The first regular season NFL game played outside the United States was held on October 2 , 2005 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City before an NFL regular - season record of 103 , 467 fans . The Arizona Cardinals defeated the San Francisco 49ers , 31 - 14 . The New York Giants and Miami Dolphins played a regular season game at Wembley Stadium in London on October 28 , 2007 ( with the Giants winning 13 - 10 ) , the first ever NFL regular season game to be played outside of North America ; similarly , the San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints followed suit in October 2008 . These games are not recorded as " American Bowls " ( as they are played during the regular season and not the pre - season ) ; instead , the name for this series is the International Series . In addition to these games , the Buffalo Bills began playing in a series of games ( some pre - season . some regular season ) in Toronto , Ontario ; the Miami Dolphins beat the Bills 16 - 3 in the first such game , on December 7 , 2008 .