An aerial view of London’s Wembley Stadium, the possible site of a football game between Arizona State and Kansas in 2026. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

PHOENIX – Arizona State is in deep conversations with the University of Kansas to make history across the pond by playing the first-ever college football game at Wembley Stadium in 2026.

Scott Hamilton of The Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina, first reported Thursday morning that the teams were engaged in talks to bring college football to London. The matchup would be part of a new multi-year event called the Union Jack Classic and take place in Week 3 of the season on Sept. 19, 2026, various media outlets reported.

The teams will still need to move their Week 3 matchups – Arizona State is scheduled to host Hawaii and Kansas is set to play Middle Tennessee – to different dates to accommodate the London game.

If agreed upon, the contest would be the first to feature two teams from the FBS at Wembley Stadium.

The only previous college football game in London involved FCS teams – Boston University and Richmond – who played in England’s Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in 1988.

Arizona State football has played in only one international game – a 62-45 loss to Houston in Tokyo on Dec. 2, 1990. Kansas, which would serve as the home team, has never played an international game.

The move comes in the midst of the Big 12 Conference’s growing initiative to expand into international markets. At Big 12 Media Days, commissioner Brett Yormark outlined his plans to elevate the Big 12’s status among the other national powers in collegiate athletics. He acknowledged the importance of branching into international markets.

“I want this conference to be a global conference,” Yormark said. “I think we can win globally, big time.”

ASU hasn’t been shy about becoming involved in these plans. Athletic director Graham Rossini hinted at his school’s involvement back in August.

“We’re in conversations about international games,” Rossini said on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM on Aug. 28. “That’s something that the Big 12 is very focused on. We’re very interested in that as well, so (we’re in the) very early days of the process, but we like the idea of playing in Europe, somewhere where it could make sense, and we’ll see what happens.”

In Week 0, Kansas State and Iowa State kicked off the college football season from Dublin, Ireland. The standalone contest – the only game on television throughout its duration – averaged just over 4 million viewers on ESPN, according to data gathered by Sports Media Watch.

Although the proposed game between ASU and Kansas wouldn’t be a standalone Week 0 matchup, there is still plenty of appeal for the Sun Devils to reach into this global pool of fans. The potential for increased revenue, with more eyes on the Sun Devils and the conference, makes participating in the spectacle an attractive proposition.

“We’re trying to build the brand of Big 12 football … it puts a lot of awareness on the Big 12 and what we’re starting to build in our conference,” Rossini said. “For ASU specifically, we’ve got a huge focus on international enrollment. We’ve got a presence in Europe, we’ve got a presence in Asia, we’ve got a presence all over the United States, so getting our brand out to different parts of the world is only good for building the brand of ASU.”

Even though college football has only made its way to England once before, the country is no stranger to American football. The NFL’s international series has given fans in the UK a taste of the sport, with the league playing 36 games in London. It’s cultivated somewhat of a fanbase for American football in England, even though the country doesn’t have a designated team.

“It’s a really high-energy environment,” Taylor Umland, a program leader in sports journalism at the University of Salford, said of the environments at NFL games in England. “Everybody’s really into it. … Especially the British (will) find the pageantry of the band and all that as a spectacle.”

In the past, London has accommodated visiting fans from the U.S. by setting up designated tailgating areas and arranging events prior to the game. And, given the NFL’s success in England, playing games in London could provide the Big 12 with another creative avenue to draw fans and market itself.

“The Big 12 has got to do something to differentiate itself to make money and to stick out in this market that’s been created. … The NFL shouldn’t be the only one playing international games if it’s a good idea,” Umland said.

“So if the money’s there to be made and the interest is here, it’s going to keep going.”

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