Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has reiterated his ambitions to turn the British capital into a global sporting hub, bringing the Super Bowl, WrestleMania and boxing matches such as Anthony Joshua vs Daniel Dubois to London.
Ahead of his re-election as Mayor of London earlier this month, Khan pledged to try to bring the Super Bowl, a landmark NFL game, to London.
The 53-year-old said on Thursday he wanted to cement London's status as the “sports capital of the world”, highlighting that this Saturday's Champions League final between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium will mark the start of a summer packed with premier events, including the Diamond League athletics, the Olympic pre-match, the Wimbledon tennis championships and high-profile baseball and cricket matches.
“But we would like to host more international events,” Khan said.
“I want the (Anthony) Joshua vs. (Daniel) Dubois fight to come to London. I want the international WrestleMania to come to London. The Super Bowl is a really important event for us. We have a lot of American football games, but I want it to come here because I want American sports fans in Europe to not just go to America, but to come to London to watch.”
WrestleMania celebrates its 40th anniversary this year but has never been held in the UK before, and the event will feature stars such as Cody Rhodes, Damian Priest and Becky Lynch.
London has hosted NFL games in the past (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
London has hosted an NFL regular season game every year since 2007, but the Super Bowl has never been played outside the United States; all 54 since its inception in 1967 have been hosted in the United States.
Meanwhile, Joshua is expected to face the winner of this Saturday's heavyweight bout between Dubois and Filip Hrgovic.
Khan, who was first elected in 2016 and is serving his third term, said London was “absolutely” ready to host the event.
“Tens of thousands of fans from Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund will be here this weekend,” Kahn said.
“It contributes more than £50 million to our economy, our hotels, restaurants and theatres. These events bring people together.”
Khan also acknowledged that London's reputation needed to be repaired following the chaotic 2021 men's European Championship final, when fans stormed Wembley Stadium to watch England v Italy, leaving 19 police officers injured and more than 50 arrested. He described the incident as “unacceptable” but noted “lessons have been learned”.
“Dams Louise Casey has graciously agreed to chair the committee which will look into what went wrong and how we can improve,” he said. “The FA should be praised for investing more than £5 million in improving the turnstiles, adding 1,500 more security guards, 500 more volunteers and extra police officers.”
“It's really important that people coming to London this weekend are coming to enjoy the football and the festival, but not to cause trouble.”
“The FA, the police, Wembley Stadium, UEFA – we have all worked hard to ensure this event is peaceful and successful.”
(Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
