As the New York Giants face the Carolina Panthers in Munich this weekend, local fans wonder if American football would ever kick off in the country’s capital after commissioner Roger Goodell said last November that Berlin has “a lot of interest” in hosting an NFL game.
And Goodell answered, hinting at a game to be played in Berlin next season.
“I usually say don’t believe rumors,” Goodell said at a fan event in Munich on Saturday. “In this case, I say believe them.”
While it is a strong possibility, nothing is finalized for 2025, Goodell said.
Two German cities previously hosted NFL games, with two games played in Frankfurt Stadium in 2023. The league’s inaugural game in Germany — a November 2022 meeting between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks at Allianz Arena in Munich — was a big success, generating 70.2 million euros for the City of Munich, per the NFL.
This year, close to 70,000 fans will visit the sold-out Allianz Arena on Sunday.
Goodell again said Saturday that the goal is to expand the international schedule even further past the eight games to be played abroad annually starting in 2025. Once the NFL reaches an 18-game schedule, Goodell wants to play 16 international games per season. The league increased the number of regular-season matchups from 14 to 16 in 1978 and capped it there until 2021, when it upped it to 17 games.
Goodell has been vocal about expanding the schedule again as part of the league’s long-term plan. That large an increase in both domestic and international games could play out in “three to five years,” Goodell said Saturday.
On Sunday, Goodell told NFL Network the league is aiming to play games in England, Germany, Brazil, Spain, Mexico and, potentially, Ireland. The league announced plans for its first game in Spain — to be played at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium — in February.
Get your passports ready! ✈️
Commissioner Roger Goodell tells @ColleenWolfe where the NFL is traveling next season 🌍 pic.twitter.com/Bhn9L71e4E
— NFL GameDay (@NFLGameDay) November 10, 2024
“A lot of teams want to go to Spain,” Goodell said Saturday. “The Dolphins are one that want to go there.”
The NFL held five games overseas this season as part of its International Series, with the Giants-Panthers matchup serving as the intercontinental finale. The Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles opened up the abroad slate with the league’s first trip to Corinthians Arena in São Paulo in September.
The Minnesota Vikings then beat the New York Jets at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the first of three London games in October. The Jacksonville Jaguars fell to the Chicago Bears at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium the following week before reigning victorious against the New England Patriots at Wembley Stadium on Oct. 20.
The NFL has played regular-season games at stadiums internationally for nearly two decades, since the Arizona Cardinals picked up a win over the San Francisco 49ers in 2005 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
Required reading
- The NFL is heading to Germany – and the country has fallen for American football
- How the New York Giants are trying to win more than a game in Germany
- What the NFL considers when choosing international game stadiums and teams
(Photo: Richard Heathcote / Getty Images)
