With the Jaguars on the rise, UK fans nervous about team's plan to reevaluate its London strategy

LONDON (AP) — Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence cited London’s “history and the feel and charm” on Sunday after a dramatic victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.

“I feel like we have a strong connection and tie to London,” Lawrence said. “We’ve been playing here for a long time. Who knows if that will change?”

Indeed, it’s quite possible it could.

The Jaguars said before the season that they’re going to “totally reevaluate” their London strategy. Their economic motivation to play in London each year — usually at Wembley Stadium like they’ll do Sunday against the Houston Texans — will decrease when their stadium renovation in Jacksonville is complete, expected in time for the 2028 season.

Under owner Shad Khan, the Jaguars were early adopters of the NFL’s international push and started playing annual games in the British capital in 2013. Khan also owns London-based Fulham in the Premier League.

Jags fans in the U.K. are hoping the team doesn’t disappear.

They’ve supported them through the lean years — until 2025, the Jags had never brought a winning record to London.

But now, expectations are sky high.

“We’re totally bought in,” Scottish fan Keir Robinson said Sunday before kickoff at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where the Jags beat the Eagles 19-17. “What Liam Coen is doing just now is incredible. This is our time. I think we are playoff-bound, could be Super Bowl-bound.”

Robinson and his wife, Julie, took a 7 a.m. flight from Edinburgh to London for the game.

As for the future?

“If they were here every second year, that would be big for us,” he said. “If they never come back, five years down the line am I still a Jags fan? I don’t know.”

Another fan, John Rawson of Dorset in southwest England, added “it would be a shame” if the team changed course.

The Jaguars have not made any announcements about their long-term future in London.

Any potential big changes might not take effect until 2028, when their stadium is complete. The Jags will move most of their home games to Orlando next season, when they'll still have the option of playing three home games in London.

Team President Mark Lamping told the team’s flagship radio broadcaster during the preseason that “our commitment to London is year to year” and that it's time to "totally reevaluate our London strategy.”

In a statement to The Associated Press, Lamping said the Jags “were pioneers in the league’s international strategy by first committing to one home game annually in London beginning with the 2013 season.”

"Our year-round presence in London since then has been a major plus for the league, the U.K. and our home market of Jacksonville, which has realized business and tourism benefits made possible only due to our immersion in London," he added.

Sunday's game will be Jacksonville's 16th in London.

Britain has a well-developed NFL fanbase with support for a variety of teams. But they’re not all Jacksonville fans, which means there’s some fatigue with the Jags coming year after year.

Matt Cullen, an Englishman who supports the New York Jets said: “Fans are a little bit bored of the Jags now.”

That was before Sunday’s drama at Tottenham, but stats back up his sentiment.

The Jags ranked No. 28 for most-watched teams on NFL Game Pass in Britain and Ireland in 2025. Jacksonville was also among the lesser-searched NFL teams by U.K. fans in 2025, according to analytics company Hyperset Group, based on Google search data.

Still, attendance at three of the past four Jaguars games at Wembley exceeded 86,000. Tickets were still available this week for Sunday’s game but far fewer than were available a few weeks ago.

The Jags and nine other teams have NFL-approved marketing rights in the U.K. Few can match Jacksonville’s presence and longevity in Britain, but they’re certainly looking for new supporters.

The Minnesota Vikings held a scavenger hunt in London last week. Fans located purple envelopes downtown and won Justin Jefferson jerseys.

Of the teams with U.K.-specific social media accounts, the Vikings have the most Instagram followers (almost 43,000), followed by the Jaguars and the Bears. The Jags are way ahead on X.

The Chicago Bears this month are on a “U.K. grand tour” with events in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Bears’ popularity here dates to a 1986 preseason game at the original Wembley Stadium. Mike Ditka was Chicago’s coach and defensive lineman William “The Refrigerator” Perry got the headlines.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Jacksonville Jaguars tight end Brenton Strange (85) is flipped through the air as he is held just short of the end zone during an NFL football game against Philadelphia Eagles in London, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) gets a pass away as he is challenged by Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jordan Davis (90) during an NFL football game in London, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) stands on the field before an NFL football game against Philadelphia Eagles in London, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) follows Jacksonville Jaguars mascot Jaxson de Ville onto the field before an NFL football game against Philadelphia Eagles in London, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) follows Jacksonville Jaguars mascot Jaxson de Ville onto the field before an NFL football game against Philadelphia Eagles in London, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

Jacksonville Jaguars place kicker Cam Little (39) celebrates after scoring the winning field goal during an NFL football game against Philadelphia Eagles in London, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

The Saudi -led coalition fighting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said Thursday it has thwarted a missile attack on Saudi Arabia's holy city of Medina as well as another attack in the eastern part of the kingdom.

Meanwhile, a former chief of Israel’s domestic security service has filed a defamation suit against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and hospital officials in Gaza said an Israeli strike there killed one man.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Thursday. Read our full coverage here.

The Saudi-led coalition said in a statement that it intercepted and destroyed a cruise missile over the province of Medina, but notably did not assign blame for the attack.

The Houthis’ military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree denied carrying out the attack. The rebel group previously pledged not to attack airports in the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

The international airport in the capital, Riyadh, has suspended service because of Houthi attacks.

Earlier Thursday, Saudi Arabia also said it destroyed a drone over the country's Eastern province, a major oil-producing region.

The latest conflict between the Saudis and the Houthis began last month after the rebels seized key areas along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a critical waterway for Gulf oil shipments. The Saudi-led coalition, backing forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, has been trying to retake those areas.

A former chief of Israel’s domestic security service filed a defamation suit against Netanyahu, saying the prime minister had falsely accused him of withholding warnings about Hamas threats in the hours before the Oct. 7, 2023 attack.

Ronen Bar, former head of the agency commonly known as Shin Bet, demanded 3 million shekels ($965,000) in the suit filed Wednesday.

Netanyahu, in a post last month on X, accused Bar of “failures and crimes” in the hours before the attack, when Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, setting off a massive Israeli bombardment and invasion that has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Netanyahu said Bar knew of the Hamas threat but didn’t inform him, the military or civilian security units.

Bar called the accusations “blood libel,” detailing the steps he took in the hours before the attack to update Netanyahu’s top military advisers and the army, and describes a series of warnings and recommendations his agency delivered in the months before the attack which he says were “consistently disregarded” by the prime minister.

With Israelis preparing to vote in the country’s first general elections since the attack, the suit is the latest in escalating attempts to deflect blame about intelligence failures around Oct. 7.

After a string of resignations by top security officials -- including Bar -- Netanyahu remains the only senior figure from Oct. 7 still in office, making the election in many ways a referendum on his leadership.

Turkey’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that a mutual defense pact between Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, as well as any deployment of Turkish forces under the agreement, requires parliamentary approval.

In a statement, the ministry also indicated that no final decision had been made on the type of assistance Turkey might provide to Saudi Arabia.

The three countries signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement in August, and Turkish officials say it is expected to be ratified by parliament in the coming days. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and other officials have ruled out the deployment of combat troops, stressing that the pact is purely defensive.

An Israeli strike north of Gaza City killed one man on Thursday morning, according to officials at Shifa Hospital.

Israel’s military said it struck a “terrorist” in the area, without elaborating.

The strike came over a year after a ceasefire deal was reached between Israel and the Hamas militant group, a period during which Israel continued to launch deadly strikes on the enclave.

More than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire was reached in October last year, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. Its figures are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It doesn’t give a breakdown of civilians and militants.

A Syrian court on Thursday sentenced two people to death and three others to prison terms over their roles in last year's sectarian violence in the country’s coastal region.

In March 2025, loyalists of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad attacked members of the new government’s security forces in areas where a large segment of the country’s Alawite religious minority lives. The government’s counterinsurgency spiraled into widespread violence in which hundreds of civilians — most of them Alawites — were killed.

Two members of the pro-Assad groups were sentenced to death and a third to 12 years in prison. Two members of the security forces received prison terms.

The European Union and Gulf Cooperation Council members announced they are putting on hold their planned Oct. 24 summit in Riyadh.

No new date has been set for the gathering that was to bring together leaders from the 27 EU economies and the Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The secretary-general of the GCC, Jasem Albudaiwi, said in a statement that the delay was made in light of Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia and a desire "to ensure the safety of participating delegations.”

The EU-GCC summit was scheduled to discuss maritime security in the Red Sea, energy infrastructure investments and stabilizing energy prices in the wake of the Iran war and renewed fighting in Yemen.

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

Buildings line King Fahd Road in the Olaya district of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026 (AP Photo/Baraa Anwer)

Buildings and construction sites fill the skyline, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. (AP Pjoto/Baraa Anwer)