Premiere already this year?
NFL plans games in two German cities
2/9/2022, 6:29 p.m
The popularity of the National Football League in Germany has been growing continuously for years. Now it seems that the US league is reacting – and bringing a few regular season games to the Federal Republic. According to media reports, the NFL is planning with two major German cities.
Patrick Mahomes throws tough touchdown passes in lederhosen, Helene Fischer sings the national anthem – and the hot dogs are served with a lot of sauerkraut? No, maybe not entirely. But the NFL will certainly come up with plenty of marketing hype if it brings the Super Bowl feeling to “Good Old Germany” once a year in the future. The triumph of football in this country should continue unabated.
“It will immediately trigger a huge hype. There will be a real explosion with the game in Germany,” said ex-professional Sebastian Vollmer, two-time NFL champion with the New England Patriots, of “Sports Illustrated”. From 2022 to at least 2025, one NFL main round game is to take place in Germany, according to information from the sports information service, Frankfurt has been awarded the contract. According to the “Bild” newspaper, Munich should also get games.
The decision-makers in the USA have carefully followed how the sport gained a foothold in Germany over the past decade and became a hit with the public. In 2007, the NFL already dared to play games in Europe, more precisely in London. There, “enthusiasm increased,” said German Patriots pro Jakob Johnson, “and 50 percent of the people came from Germany.” It was “only” 6000, but the NFL took notice.
NFL clubs already in contact with German clubs
Its popularity has continued to grow over the years, also thanks to the “ranNFL” format broadcast by ProSiebenSat.1, which is popular with many fans and has been showing the league on free TV since 2012 – there is also the pay TV streaming service DAZN, which, for example, Conference call RedZone presented this season also with German commentators. There, numerous fans will tune in again on Monday night (12:30 a.m.) when the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams are in the Super Bowl. Football keeps pushing across the pond to Europe.
Which teams can the German fans expect in the future? “I’m trying to process everyone here for the Patriots to get the nod – because I think that’s the crucial step,” Johnson said last fall. In December, the NFL actually awarded the marketing rights for Germany to the Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs with star quarterback Mahomes, who already have a partnership with Bayern Munich. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Carolina Panthers were also there. So it’s not unlikely that those teams will also play in Germany.
In any case, the annual spectacle should take the NFL to a whole new level in the local market – and the youngsters could also benefit. Many more children and young people are to be brought into the clubs in order to possibly one day follow in the footsteps of Vollmer, Johnson and Co. “American Football has to arrive in Germany,” said Alexander Steinforth, the new General Manager Germany, of the ARD “Sportschau”. The NFL wants to try “that more young people play football and first a whole city, then a region and later the whole country can get excited about the sport.” The next step along the way has been taken.