Good news for the many, many fans of American football in Germany. For the first time in its more than 100-year history , the NFL is coming to Germany. Munich and Frankfurt have been chosen as the cities that will alternate hosting the American Football League games. In the Bavarian capital, the game is already planned for this year – in the next regular NFL season – while Frankfurt will host it in 2023.
The exact date and the participating teams are not yet known, but will be announced in connection with the announcement of the 2022 NFL schedule later this year. However, this will only be a small part of a long-term partnership between the Bundesliga and the NFL that will include many other activities – and could easily be extended to other German cities.
Long-term cooperation between Bundesliga and NFL
In addition to the games themselves, the NFL, the Bundesliga and the selected cities will also organize numerous activities for the fans. For example, a fan festival will be held in the city center and ticket holders will also be able to use public transport free of charge on match day. In addition, the sport of American football is to be made better known to schoolchildren through activities at schools, in vacation sports or at sports festivals. On top of this, a project called the “Flag Football Program” is being organized to get more and more girls interested in American football. All of these initiatives receive substantial financial support from the NFL each year.
Munich and Frankfurt were selected as organizers in a process that began last year, with the state capital, the Main metropolis and Düsseldorf being shortlisted from nine cities in Germany. The first game in Germany is one of five international NFL games planned for 2022, along with one in Mexico and three in the UK.
However, as mentioned above, it is entirely possible that this collaboration will be extended to other cities in the coming years. As NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement, the NFL is “exploring areas of broader collaboration with the National Football League”. This is mainly due to the growing fan base across the country.
Germany: an important market for American football
Recently, the NFL described our country as an “emerging major market for the game”. It is estimated that around 19 million NFL fans live in Germany. In addition, weekly viewership on partners ProSieben and DAZN has increased by more than 20 percent annually since 2017, and Super Bowl LV marked the third consecutive season with record German viewership. Fantasy football attendance and sales of the NFL Shop and Madden video game have also risen steadily.
As if that wasn’t proof enough, a recent survey by AFG Videoforschung revealed that American football is the second most popular TV sport in Germany, watched by one in three people last year.
This is likely to be particularly true in Stuttgart , as evidenced by the many football clubs in and around the city, including the likes of the Stuttgart Scorpions and Stuttgart Surge. Hopefully this means that we will soon be able to watch NFL games in our city too.