NFL Eyes France, Spain as Sites for Future Games
The league has three games in London, one game in Germany and one game in Mexico this season.
After Sunday’s successful Buccaneers–Seahawks game in Munich, Germany, the NFL is looking into extending its international games into other countries as well.
The NFL Head of the UK and Europe Brett Gosper recently told The Associated Press that the league has France and Spain on their “radar” right now.
“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 said.
Spain seems like an obvious choice for the league, especially as Gosper points out that the NFL has a huge Spanish-speaking fanbase with games being played in Mexico. France, on the other hand, may take some pushing.
“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 said. “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.”
As of now, Germany has a four-year deal with the NFL and the league hopes to extend that contract. The league has also played at least one game in London each season since 2007, except for 2020. Additionally, the league has played four games in Mexico City in recent years and will return there on Monday, Nov. 21 for the Cardinals–49ers matchup.
There are five international games this season, and part of the reason the league expanded to 17 games a season is to give teams a chance to play in international games.
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