MUNICH (AP) – Tom Brady gave Germany his first taste of the NFL in 2022. Patrick Mahomes put on a show there last year.
This Sunday, Germany hosts the Carolina Panthers and New York Giants, both 2-7 and short on star power. However, there is still NFL buzz around Munich.
Fans wearing caps and jerseys from almost every team in the league were visible in the city center on Saturday. For Germany’s growing community of NFL fans, the game is an opportunity to spend the weekend with people who share their passion.
Among the crowd at the historic Marienplatz square were Annika and Robert Peter, from Bonn in western Germany. They’re Chiefs fans who saw the team beat the Dolphins 21-14 in Frankfurt last year, and they’ll head to Sunday’s game to relive the NFL atmosphere a second time.
“We said that even though the Chiefs are not here now, everything that goes with the game, the experience, is also something special,” Annika Peter said. “It’s a feeling of unity, no matter who the fans are. It’s like a big family coming together in town to watch these games.
As the NFL booms in international markets and sends more regular season games overseas, the question arises as to how much the quality of the on-field product actually matters.
This year’s game between the Giants and Panthers — who are nominally the home team — reportedly sold out in just over 90 minutes when tickets went on sale in June. This was long before it was realized how difficult the season would be for both teams.
However, in a sign of waning enthusiasm among some fans, online platforms listed hundreds of tickets for resale on Friday and Saturday and many were offered at around face value or even slightly less. It’s far from frenzy when Brady played in the same place in 2022.
Another largely unsuccessful team is at the forefront of the NFL’s global expansion plans. The Jacksonville Jaguars lead the league with 13 international games, all in London, since 2013, including two this season. The Jaguars have only made the playoffs twice in that span and, like the Giants and Panthers, are 2-7 this season.
According to data from Sportfive, a marketing agency that works with the league, this year, 3.6 million Germans are closely following the NFL. Stefan Chatrath, a professor of sports marketing at the European University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, said the NFL’s appeal in Germany was skewed toward a younger demographic, although older, wealthier fans tended to buy no more tickets. Over time, the influence of young fans will grow, he predicts.
“It is to be expected that the full potential is not yet close to being realized,” said Chatrath, who added that the teams on the field were less important. “Right now, the NFL brand is at the forefront and that means it’s something special to attend an NFL game.”
One of the ways the NFL is trying to set itself apart from European sports is by creating a sense of occasion around the game. Fans coming to Munich from all over Europe are encouraged to have a mini-vacation with events on the NFL theme spread throughout the city. The 10 NFL teams with marketing rights in Germany have each taken over a Munich bar, some belonging to historic breweries, for fan parties and hospitality events this weekend.
The NFL’s emphasis on parity also gives particular hope to European fans of struggling teams like the Giants and Panthers. Some are fed up with football, where the richest teams tend to monopolize the titles of national competitions and the Champions League.
Boris Helleu, a lecturer in sports marketing at the University of Caen Normandy in France, travels to NFL games in Europe. But he is also a fan of French football club Caen, which has yet to win a major trophy since its founding 110 years ago.
“We have won nothing, nothing, nothing in our history. And I’m sure when my time comes, I’ll never see my home team win anything,” Helleu said. The NFL offers something different, he added.
“When you are a fan of a weak (NFL) team, you can firmly believe that in five years you might be able to win a championship.”
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