The NFL wants to continue its European growth by adding regular season matches in Spain and France to join the United Kingdom and Germany on the calendar.
On Sunday, the NFL International Series made its historic bow in Germany as Tom Brady led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 21-16 win over the Seattle Seahawks. Brady threw for 258 yards and a pair of touchdowns amid a stunning atmosphere at Bayern Munich's Allianz Arena.
The clash was a first regular season match in Germany as part of a four-year deal that the NFL hopes will become a long-term move, like the annual matches in the UK. London has hosted regular season games since 2007 with matches being played at Wembley, Twickenham and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
However, it appears a move to France or Spain is atop the NFL’s to-do list. According to the NFL head of UK and Europe Brett Gospter, analysis of fan growth and commercial potential means games in other major European countries is a logical next step.
“We need to do our homework to make sure that there is the possibility of a place to land any games in those markets, gauge interest of the host stadia, gauge interest of the host city, even the government, as to their enthusiasm to help us bring a game,” Gosper told reporters.
“When you know that there are teams operating in [the international rights program], you want to look at the prospect and the viability of potentially having games in those markets at some point.”
Last year, the NFL divided international rights to interested teams across 10 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Ghana, Mexico and the UK. There is no such agreement in France, and Gosper’s quotes suggest Spain have a slight edge over France as they own the ‘home marketing’ rights for the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins.
International expansion was cited as a reason for the NFL adding a 17th match to the regular season schedule, and the league has committed to playing four international games each season - with teams required to play a ‘home’ game abroad once every eight seasons. Five international games were on the 2022 slate: three in London, one in Munich and the final match in Mexico City, where the Arizona Cardinals will face the San Francisco 49ers on Monday.
Which country do you think the NFL should play in next? Let us know in the comments section.
Gosper revealed the NFL will test the viability of different stadium options around the world, with Real Madrid ’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium undergoing major renovations that will include a soccer pitch that retracts to make way for an artificial turf field that can be used for American football with a capacity of over 80,000. The design is similar to Tottenham’s stadium, which has a long-term deal with the NFL to host games.
Barcelona’s Camp Nou is Europe's largest soccer stadium with a capacity of 99,000, but the club plans to begin a long-delayed renovation project that will last into 2026. The city's Montjuic Olympic Stadium seats about 56,000 and was a former home to the Barcelona Dragons of the NFL Europe league - and Gosper suggested Spain would be the logical move considering the NFL’s immense Spanish-speaking fanbase.
“France is a little bit outside of that, and it's its own market and culture but at the same time it's an incredibly strong sports media market where returns could be higher and faster than Spain,” Gosper added. “They're two very healthy media markets, healthy sports markets, some strong indicators from our streaming platform as well as from our consumer sales.
“When you mine the data a little bit, they certainly are two markets with high potential.”
Gosper also suggested Sweden could be a future NFL destination given the popularity of the league in the Nordic region. In August 1988, the Bears played the Minnesota Vikings in a preseason game at Ullevi stadium in Gothenburg.
