Little did the crowd know at the time that they were witnessing that season’s Super Bowl winners in the form of the Giants – who beat the Patriots in one of the most dramatic finales to any sporting occasion in history.

2008 saw a far more enthralling contest than the rain-soaked affair the year before as the New Orleans Saints held on for a 37-32 win over the San Diego Chargers in front of a full-house in north-west London. This time though neither team went on to lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Such has been the success of these matches - from both a sporting and commercial perspective – that there have been substantial talks about expanding the NFL’s presence even further in this part of the world.

A second regular-season game has been mooted, though it is still far from being a reality at present. Cardiff’s Millenium Stadium and Murrayfield in Edinburgh have been touted as possible venues but one would expect Old Trafford, Hampden Park and the rebuilt Lansdowne Road in Dublin also to express a keen interest if such an idea was ratified.

Even more ambitious - and only in the very initial stages of conception - are talks to host the Super Bowl itself in London. It is understood that members of Visit London and the mayor’s office have met with NFL officials about this possibility with the suggestion having not been dismissed.

It remains highly unlikely that the American public would be happy about their premier sporting event taking place on foreign fields but it cannot be ruled out entirely. But with the venues for the next four Super Bowls having been confirmed, it could not happen before 2014 at the earliest.

American Football has experienced mixed fortunes in the UK. There was an explosion in popularity during the 1980s when Channel 4 began to champion the sport with weekly coverage and tutorials about the rules of the game.

This encouraged the NFL to set up what was initially called the World League of American Football that featured teams from across Europe and which had its inaugural season in 1991.

England’s representative, the London Monarchs, were initially based at Wembley but had spells playing at White Hart Lane and Stamford Bridge. However, interest soon waned and the franchise was shut down in 2002.

The whole enterprise – eventually known as NFL Europa – was then closed in 2007 with only a handful of teams in Germany still participating in its final season.

The issue was quality and the fact that bona fide NFL teams playing in matches of real consequence have been so popular in London since their arrival bears this out.

There is, after all, a British American Football League that boasts a five-team top division and several lower divisions with teams scattered all over England and Scotland. As an amateur participation sport it is flourishing but as a spectacle it is still failing to attract numbers.

The sport’s growing popularity may also have something to do with two high-profile criminal investigations that have taken place over the past couple of years.

First, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was jailed in 2007 for being the moneyman behind a dog-fighting ring. After being locked up for two years he is now back playing in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles.

More recently has been the quite bizarre case of Plaxico Burress. The New York Giants wide receiver caught the winning touchdown pass that secured his team that historic Super Bowl win two seasons ago but has since fallen from grace after accidentally shooting himself in the leg while partying in a night club in 2008.

Pleading guilty to criminal possession of a handgun, Burress claims the gun unexpectedly discharged in his pocket and he has just begun a two-year sentence behind bars.

Whatever the reason for the latest upsurge of interest in America’s game, the Buccaneers-Patriots clash looks destined to be another sell-out at Wembley and the future looks bright for local fans.