FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) -Two-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady is looking forward to playing in the first China Bowl next summer in Beijing.
The official announcement that New England would face the Seattle Seahawks in an exhibition game on Aug. 8 was made Sunday by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell before the Patriots lost to the Denver Broncos 17-7.
``It was rumored for a bunch of weeks, so I always think it would be fun,'' Brady said. ``I love traveling so I am looking forward to it. It is a long ways away, but I think it is cool that the Patriots are one of the teams they chose.''
Goodell said there was great interest among teams in playing in the first NFL game in China, but the Patriots and Seahawks were chosen because of their on-field success and ``because we think they represent the best of the United States and the best of the NFL both on the field and off the field.''
The Patriots have won three of the last five Super Bowls. The Seahawks lost last season's title game.
The game will be played exactly one year before the Olympic Games start in China. Both events will be televised live by NBC. The football game will start at 8:30 p.m. in China and, because of the 12-hour time difference, will be telecast live in the United States at 8:30 a.m. EDT on Aug. 9.
The trip will cause coaches of both teams to adjust their training camp schedules. Patriots owner Robert Kraft said he talked with his football personnel about the decision to go to China. Each team will play five exhibition games, one more than the usual number.
The NFL's strength has been its ability to increase revenues, Kraft said, ``and the players and the coaches and the organizations have been the biggest beneficiaries. If we don't do things like this, I think we'll lose our pre-eminence in U.S. sport.''
The Patriots' trip starts with an exhibition game Aug. 2 against the Seahawks in Seattle. The Aug. 8 game will be at Workers Stadium, the soccer venue for the Olympics, and will be the 42nd NFL game played outside the U.S. - all but one in the preseason.
The game ``seems like an absolute natural'' to take place in China, which is ``the greatest growing new society,'' said Dick Ebersol, NBC Universal Sports & Olympic chairman. ``It's hard to call China a new society, but to so much of us it has become a new society.''
The Seahawks played at home Sunday and did not have a representative at the news conference.
In a statement, Seattle chairman Paul Allen said, ``We are proud of the Pacific Northwest's deep cultural and business ties to China. We look forward to developing relationships surrounding this game that will have a lasting impact and will serve as a legacy of our participation in this historic event.''
The game will be televised live in China in prime-time by China Central Television.
CCTV is broadcasting the NFL's schedule of Sunday night games live in China throughout this season, culminating with an on-site telecast of the Super Bowl. One of the games was Sunday's Patriots loss in which they trailed 17-0 before scoring in the fourth quarter.
The Seahawks were more entertaining, beating the New York Giants 42-30.
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