This year the NFL decided to have its first game in Germany. Now with the success the London and Munich games have shown, there is no doubt the NFL will be going overseas more often.
Viewership
When it comes to the viewership and people coming to the stadiums, the NFL has done a great job with overseas marketing. When it comes to the people at the game, most of these events sold out in minutes. As for the games, they did numbers as well. Giants-Packers game reached an audience of 5.5 million viewers, making it the most-watched London game ever to air on NFL Network. Jags-Broncos was on ESPN+, so the numbers there are harder to find. The best of all of this is the Munich game. I do not know if it was because the NFL sent better teams than usual or what, but Munich had a great atmosphere. Tickets for the games sold out in minutes of it going live… in July! They were definitely excited for their first NFL game.
The viewership was really good for this game as well. NFL Network’s Broadcast of Seahawks-Bucs in Munich Sees 5.8 Million viewers. For 9:30am eastern time games, this formula seems to be looking like it will go somewhere.
Atmosphere
The biggest thing that is awesome to see is the atmosphere. Anytime the games have been overseas, the crowds have not disappointed. As a fan of the NFL and an American, it is so cool to see others get to experience one of America’s top and best sports. Due to the size of the stadiums too, it takes some of these players back to their college roots with more people in the stands.
I think the best version of this so far is the Munich game. Watching the crowd react to everything was just simply awesome. This stadium sat a little under 70,000, and there were times the crowd just took over. For this being their first NFL game, the Munich crowd definitely left something to remember.
Basically every NFL player or personnel that went over said it was one of the best experiences they have ever had. Between the environment to just meeting the people, the Euro games for this year were a smashing success for the NFL. These Euro games have gotten better over the years as well, with almost all of the teams getting a chance to go over.
The Future
The future should be bright for the NFL overseas. After the London games finally had their first matchup of winning record teams, the future looks to be promising. Now that the NFL has a good fan base across the pond, they might look to send more of the better teams over. For the Germany games, the NFL has already signed a deal now where the NFL will play at least four games in Germany up to 2025.
Moving forward into the future, Munich and Frankfurt are each set to host two games between that time period. With how good the numbers have done and with how the communities over the pond have responded, the NFL should keep at least two to three games over there yearly. The NFL also has a Mexico City game scheduled for this week. There is also a rumor that the Kansas City Chiefs will be one of the teams to go over next year. The NFL is in a very interesting time. With all of the success, it will be interesting to see if more games get played overseas, or at what location. There are rumors of expansion teams overseas, but that still is maybe a bit of a ways away.
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