Sunday marked the first of two NFL games played in Germany in 2023, in addition to three played in London earlier in the year. Continuation of contests being held in both locations can be expected for years to come. 
Munich hosted the league’s first regular season game played in Germany last season, and Frankfurt was the site of the Week 9 Dolphins-Chiefs matchup. The same will be true next week when the Colts play the Patriots. As commissioner Roger Goodell noted when speaking publicly, though, Berlin is now in consideration to host future games. In any event, trips to Germany are set to continue.
“We have every intention to continue to play here,” Goodell told a group of fans in advance of Sunday’s game, via Ken Maguire of the Associated Press. “You’ve been an incredible part of our growth, you’ve been part of our history of growing our game globally. We’re going to continue to play here in some fashion.”
The NFL is set to play one game in Munich next season, and another (likely in Frankfurt) in 2025. As Goodell noted, Düsseldorf could join Berlin in being chosen as a host city down the road. That would give the league an expanded list of venues to choose from in the International Series, but further growth in that respect is in the works. Goodell confirmed at least one other, new, country will likely play host to a game in 2024. The league has conducted fact-finding missions in Spain and Brazil, so they would represent logical destinations in the short-term future.
Goodell was, unsurprisingly, asked about the possibility of an NFL team being established overseas. He stated no plans are in place on that front, but the addition of a 17th regular season game has produced a tangible desire to make international games a fixture for the league. A future in which all clubs play eight contests at home, eight on the road and one in a foreign market annually is on the NFL’s radar.
Plenty of the league’s decision-making with respect to Germany will of course depend on its evaluation of the pair of Frankfurt games in 2023. As things stand, though, that city is slated to be one of many which will host regular season contests on a routine basis for the foreseeable future.
Having NFL games in Berlin (Connecticut) Munich (North Dakota) and Frankfort (Kentucky) sounds like a great idea Roger.
What
I heard that they asked the French about having a game there, but they retreated from the idea.
… too soon?
The French would want Inspector Clouseau in charge of video reviews…which might actually be an improvement.
Damn no games in New Mexico? What about Australia? Brazil? Canada?
The NFL played an exhibition game in Australia in1999. Several exhibition games and 6 regular season games have been played in Canada. The list of NFL games played outside the United States is here…
link to en.wikipedia.org.
I’d rather see pro games at some of the 100+ thousand person college stadiums personally. A game in Tuscaloosa, Ann Arbor, Columbus, Clemson, etc would be awesome
This is a pure new market money play. Fans get hosed and players are forced to use subpar facilities with questionable field surfaces.
He’d really like to expand the league – but there simply isn’t enough talent out there.
The travel would destroy teams. Anyone who regularly travels transatlantic knows that asking athletes to go back and forth regularly is a huge handicap.
NFL greed has no limits. Those stupid Thursday night games which guarantee extra injuries with too short recovery time, the extra week of the season (at sixteen games, the season was plenty long), getting into bed with sports betting.
Yep. 70% of the league have bad QB’s. Now they want to expand that number?
Albanian Renegades