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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.
The 2024 International Schedule is set! 🏈🗺️@NFLBrasil | @NFLUKIRE | @NFLDeutschland
📺: NFL Schedule Release — Tonight 8pm ET on NFLN/ESPN2
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/HMwi7SLZ8h— NFL (@NFL) May 15, 2024
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 now played regular-season games at stadiums internationally for nearly two decades, since the Arizona Cardinals picked up a Week 4 win over the San Francisco 49ers in 2005 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. It has plans to play in a new city — at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid — next year.
“A lot of teams want to go to Spain,” Goodell said Saturday. “The Dolphins are one that want to go there.”
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(Photo: Richard Heathcote / Getty Images)
