Why does the NFL play games in Germany?

The NFL will be heading to Germany in 2022. Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will take on the Seattle Seahawks on in Munich on Sunday, November 13, 2022, at the Allianz Arena. The stadium is the home of FC Bayern Munich, the heavyweight soccer team in Germany.

With games taking place this season in England, Germany and Mexico, one might understand the appeal of promoting the the league outside American borders. But the question becomes, why specifically was Germany chosen?

Germany was chosen because it has emerged as a major market for the game. According to nfl.com, there are an estimated 19 million NFL fans residing in Germany.

Germany: A new frontier for the NFL

Germany is a football-mad nation. Well, not actually football but soccer, but that is what is referred to as fussball over there, much like the rest of the world. In soccer, they are perennial powerhouses with both the men's and women's teams having tasted international success and being some of the most successful teams in the world.

So, with the top spot taken, it fell to check what the second-most popular game in Germany was. And while other soccer heavyweights like Italy and Argentina have taken to Rugby Union as their second sport, surveys done earlier this year found German fans gravitating toward American football. The survey concluded that nearly one in three people had watched an NFL game.

With such a level of interest, it became eminently possible to imagine Germany as the next destination for NFL expansion, and this is what the league did. The league mandates that each team must fulfill, at least, one game outside the USA every eight years. But then the league must also choose those markets that make it profitable for the teams to venture out to.

Last December, the league gave the Carolina Panthers, Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers the opportunity to market in Germany.

Munich is just the start, and Frankfurt has also already been finalized for future games in Germany. It seems that it is just a matter of time before Germany becomes the next top destination for the league. It might also see greater international talent integration of the sport that could open pathways for German players to be scouted, trained and hopefully play in the NFL too in the future.

The league has entered into this international market with a lot of though. It looks like it is only likely to expand its footprint in the future.