Good news for football fans all over Europe: As the National Football League (NFL) announced on Tuesday, the world's best football league plans to host one of its season games in Germany in the coming years.
According to information from the FAZ, however, the date in autumn 2022 is off the table, internally the NFL is currently planning for September or October 2023. Brett Gosper, European head of the NFL, had already spoken extensively about the project a few weeks ago in an interview with the FAZ .
Jan Ehrhardt
Sports editor.
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The NFL now named Frankfurt, Munich and Düsseldorf as possible cities for a so-called “regular season game”, ie a regular season game and not a preparatory game.
In further discussions, it should be determined by the end of the year which of the three German cities will be awarded the contract for the major event.
Term of up to five years
All three cities enter the race with their respective football stadiums, Frankfurt with the Deutsche Bank Park and a total capacity of 51,500, Dusseldorf with the Merkur Spiel-Arena, which holds 54,600 spectators, and Munich with the Allianz Arena.
The FC Bayern Munich venue can welcome 75,000 spectators.
According to information from the FAZ, the Munich Olympic Stadium was initially also interested, but then refrained from applying.
The NFL, which has been holding regular season games in Great Britain since 2007 and has also been a guest in Mexico, expects a game in Germany to create a stronger bond with the German football fan base and thus a long-term increase in audience ratings and sales figures in the fan merchandise trade in this country . The cooperation with a German city as the venue for one of the 17 games that an NFL team only has per season is therefore designed for several years. According to reports, a term of four to five years is under discussion.
"Not only do we want to find a stadium that can handle the logistics of an NFL game, but we also want to work with a hosting consortium that includes local and regional authorities, stadium owners, local stakeholders and potential advertising partners," said the NFL now and confirmed the desire for a "long-term partnership".
Last weekend the New York Jets and Atlanta Falcons met in the stadium of the English football club Tottenham Hotspur, next weekend the Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Dolphins will meet at the same place in London (Sunday, 3:30 p.m. on ProSieben).
The only active German player in the NFL is currently Jakob Johnson from Stuttgart for the New England Patriots.
David Bada (Washington Football Team) and Aaron Donkor (Seattle Seahawks) also train in the North American professional league.