With the duel between defending champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and superstar Tom Brady against the Dallas Cowboys, the 102nd season of the National Football League starts on Friday night (2.20 a.m. CEST on ProSieben).
This season is also still under the influence of the corona pandemic.
The most important things at a glance:
Who are the favorites?
The path to the title leads again only via Brady and the Bucs.
At the age of 44, the exceptional quarterback wants to expand his record of seven NFL titles.
The bookmakers also expect the best chances for the Kansas City Chiefs and playmaker Patrick Mahomes (25), who were defeated by Tampa Bay in the final in February.
The Los Angeles Rams also have a chance of a special coup: The Super Bowl LVI, the 56th edition of the big final, will take place at SoFi Stadium, where the Rams have been playing their games since last season.
The Bucs were most recently the first NFL team to play a Super Bowl in front of a home crowd - and win straight away.
Which German professionals are there?
Only two players from Germany are in the current squad of the 32 teams: Jakob Johnson (26) made it to the New England Patriots as well as Amon-Ra St. Brown (21) to the Detroit Lions.
His brother Equanimeous, who was three years older, was removed from the Green Bay Packers.
The 25-year-old kicker Dominik Eberle is at least allowed to train with the Carolina Panthers.
What is the corona situation like?
On 95 pages, the NFL describes in detail its rules for professionals, teams and the media.
The vaccination status plays an important role: Vaccinated players are only tested for the coronavirus once a week, while unvaccinated players are tested daily.
Most recently, 93 percent of all contracted players were vaccinated.
After spectators were only allowed in a good 100 games last season, all games should now be allowed to take place with maximum capacity again.
"Last year we had games with dead silence," said Johnson, full of anticipation.
What else is new?
After immense financial losses in the billions due to the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, the league wants to generate increased income through an expanded game plan.
Instead of 16 games, the teams each play 17 games in the main round.
This should also break numerous statistical season records.
When is the NFL coming to Germany?
Since 2007, the NFL has also regularly hosted games in London.
After a corona-related break in the preseason, two games will be played again in the Tottenham Hotspur stadium this October.
Now Brett Gosper, Europe boss of the NFL, announced that the league may want to come to Germany as early as 2022, but no later than 2023.
Where can the NFL be seen on the screen in Germany?
German fans have several ways to watch the NFL. There are live games on the free-to-air TV channels ProSieben, ProSieben Maxx and on the Internet at "ran.de" as well as for paying customers on the DAZN streaming service. In addition, the NFL Gamepass, with which all games are streamed in English, can be subscribed to for a fee from Germany.