NFL Announces Regular Season Games To Be Played In Munich, London & Mexico City

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The NFL has announced the expansion of its reach overseas as it will stage a game in Munich, Germany for the first time ever in the 2023 season.

Following an application process, FC Bayern Munich Stadium, the home of the Bundesliga champions, was selected as the venue for two of the four International Series games to be played in Germany over the next four years. Frankfurt Stadium will also host two games.

“We are very pleased to welcome Munich and Frankfurt to the NFL family and are excited to reward our fans in Germany for their passion by bringing them the spectacle of regular-season NFL football,” says NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. “We look forward to staging our first game in Germany at FC Bayern Munich’s fantastic stadium later this year and to exploring areas of broader collaboration with the Bundesliga.”

This past December, the NFL announced that four NFL teams–Carolina Panthers, Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers–have been granted access to Germany for marketing, fan engagement and commercialization as part of its International Home Marketing Areas (IHMA) initiative.

“We are very pleased to welcome the NFL International Series to Munich,” says Dieter Reiter, Lord Mayor of Munich. “It is a great honor for the state capital Munich to be the first German city to stage a regular-season NFL game. Many Munich residents are big football fans and they will be thrilled that this spectacular sporting event is coming to their city.”

The NFL has seen an increase in support as well as strong years of fan growth in Germany, where it now has 19 million fans. Weekly NFL television viewership on partners ProSieben and DAZN has grown by more than 20% annually since 2017. Additionally, millions of fans tuned in for Super Bowl LV last February, making it the third consecutive season of record German Super Bowl viewership. Germany is a leading market outside North America for NFL Shop sales, fantasy football participation and sales of the Madden NFL video game.

“We are looking forward to partnerships with Munich and Frankfurt that will extend beyond the games and help us to deliver accelerated growth in Germany,” says Brett Gosper, NFL Head of Europe and UK. “The strong interest we received underlined what a fantastic opportunity regular-season games offer for a host, ranging from significant economic benefits and global exposure to the chance to become a hub for the growth of the NFL’s fan engagement, community and grassroots activities.”

The game in Munich will be one of five international games staged by the NFL in 2022, including one in Mexico and three in the UK–two at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and a Jacksonville Jaguars home game at Wembley Stadium. Home teams for international games will be announced in the coming weeks, with dates and matchups to be confirmed in conjunction with the 2022 NFL schedule announcement later this year.

The Tennessee Titans played a game in London in 2018 against the Los Angeles Chargers. Due to the AFC South rival Jaguars playing two games in England, there is a strong possibility the Titans could see themselves back in Britain.

Steven Boero
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