The clash between the Cleveland Browns and the Minnesota Vikings in London had a rough start. Not for the players, but for the crowds waiting to enter Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. And now the league has to deal with the fallout.

With minutes to go before the kickoff, the NFL ticketing app crashed. A whole host of fans in jerseys and face paint found themselves locked out of the spectacle they’d waited months for. As kickoff arrived, social media filled with frustration and demands for refunds. The NFL’s digital fail left fans frozen outside, missing the start of the first international game in the UK for this season.

As one fan took to X to share a clip of the situation, they also voiced their frustration over the technological meltdown.

“Here at Tottenham, the whole app has gone down, everyone is queuing. Thousands of people can’t get into the stadium, really bad service. – Everyone’s going to miss kick-off, not great at all. …. We’ve got seven people here. Four of them have never been to an NFL game, this is the experience they’re getting. No back-up plan or anything, don’t know what to do.”

The ticketing disaster quickly turned into a PR nightmare. Many who managed to get inside only did so after pushing their way inside. The London crowd expecting a seamless experience got a costly letdown instead. But this breakdown matters beyond inconvenience.

London is a key market for the NFL’s global push. Every game is a chance to build a loyal global footprint. A ticketing mess like this threatens that growth, raising questions about the league’s readiness to scale. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will also play host to the Week 6 matchup between the Denver Broncos and the New York Jets. With so much riding on these events, the NFL’s tech partners now face urgent pressure to fix these issues before the next matchup. 

And what about the game itself?

Despite the off-field drama, the game itself was a thriller. The contrast between the dramatic on-field finale and the frustrating pregame experience couldn’t have been starker. It’s a day football fans in London will remember not just for the win or loss but for the chaos surrounding entry to the stadium. A classic showdown otherwise overshadowed by a bitter glitch.

Browns vs. Vikings: the week 5 battle

The Cleveland Browns decided London will become the stage where they unleash their rookie starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel. And for the most part, he didn’t disappoint. Gabriel went 19 of 33 for 190 yards and landed two touchdowns for the Browns. He also took two sacks, but finished the game with a passer rating of 94.3. Gabriel got the Browns a lead in the first quarter by connecting with rookie tight end Harold Fannin Jr. But the Vikings managed to tie the score in the first quarter.

The Browns then got the lead again with a 31-yard field goal by Andre Szmyt in the second quarter. Vikings’ running back Jordan Mason hauled in a touchdown for a 3-yard rush early in the third quarter, but Browns’ tight end David Njoku countered it by hauling in a 9-yard pass from Gabriel to get the 17-14 lead. From there, it looked like Gabriel’s first NFL regular season start would end with a big international win. But don’t count the Vikings out just yet…

Vikings’ starting quarterback Carson Wentz led a calm and efficient 2:40 minute drill across 10 plays that got them 80 yards. The highlight of that drive came in the final 25 seconds of the game when Wentz connected with third-year wideout Jordan Addison for a 12 yard touchdown pass, stunning the Browns and sending the crowds into a frenzy.

The final score: Vikings 21-17 victory over the Browns.

The Cleveland Browns and the Minnesota Vikings now head home with contrasting feelings. Minnesota proud of its late-game heroics, Cleveland frustrated by a close loss. But the story now will be how the league handles fan trust and the technical glitches in the coming days. London football is growing, but only if we can get in the door.