First of all: Getting tickets for this game will probably be even more difficult than for FC Bayern’s home games. When the National Football League (NFL) announced on Wednesday evening that Munich would be the first city in continental Europe to host a league game, it spontaneously provoked an internet traffic jam. You could only sign up for a newsletter, which will tell you at some point in the future how the ticket sales are supposed to work.
So the enthusiasm for this football game in the Allianz Arena is enormous. Mayor Dieter Reiter sounds almost in awe when he says it is a “great honor” to be the first German city to host an NFL International Series game. Most of these overseas matches, which are regular league matches, have been played in London over the past 15 years, with some in Mexico. Munich has now been promised two games in the next four years, as has Frankfurt; Munich will start in the fall. However, if possible, the cooperation should be continued for a long time afterwards.
The NFL wants to announce the date for the kick-off and the game pairing in the coming weeks. It can be considered certain that the game will take place on a Sunday. The date is probably at the beginning of November, because the Bundesliga will then exceptionally go on winter break because of the World Cup in Qatar and the arena would be free for the necessary conversion – including the many new markings on the field.
American football has recently become more and more popular in Germany. In recent years, the ratings for NFL games have risen rapidly, and the number of members in the clubs has at least increased steadily – a trend that even Corona could not stop, but at best slowed down. The Bundesliga football club Munich Cowboys had around 600 members at the end of 2019, now there are 650. Many of the newcomers are young people, although they were not allowed to play at all for a long time.
By the way, the hype is not new, it is more of a new edition
The number of spectators at the home games in the Dante Stadium had also developed positively up to the pandemic, with an average of almost 2000. By the way, the hype is not that new, it is more of a new edition: When the Munich Cowboys in 1993 were German for the first and only time so far 12,000 spectators came to the final against Cologne in the riding stadium in Riem. So there has been a fan base for decades.
There is also a second well-known team in the city, the Munich Rangers, which will compete in the third division in the spring season. So far, however, Munich has not been represented in the newly founded European League of Football (ELF), which is structurally a copy of the North American NFL. Actually, the organizers around football commentator Patrick Esume, who is also an ELF commissioner, would have liked to have a Bavarian team at the start. According to reports, however, no suitable stadium has yet been found for a new team.
When NFL superstar Odell Beckham junior was a guest in Munich in 2016 – the pass recipient is also in the Super Bowl final with the Los Angeles Rams next Sunday – young people lined the streets and enthusiastically shouted “OBJ”. The event was obviously a test balloon for how enthusiastic the city is, and Munich passed the test. “Of course I’m happy and we hope to benefit from the additional attention to the sport,” says Cowboys President Werner Maier.
The city was also enthusiastic about this event; However, the idea was initiated by someone else: FC Bayern. The footballers have been collaborating with FC Dallas for years. Its owner is called Clark Hunt, is also the boss of the NFL top team Kansas City Chiefs and has a great influence on the decisions of the governing body.
Well-known teams have secured rights on the German market
The NFL had already sent a delegation to Munich last November. According to reports, places such as the cowboys’ home Dantestadion and the FC Bayern campus were visited to get an idea of possible accommodation and training facilities for the teams. It is very likely that the Chiefs will be one of the two teams playing in Munich, especially since the franchise company had previously secured exclusive rights in the German market – together with other well-known teams such as the New England Patriots.
With the award, much more will come to Munich than a simple football game day. On the one hand, many spectators will travel from far away, because the NFL attaches great importance to selling ticket packages with hotel bookings, also in the interests of the host city itself. It will be similar to a Super Bowl, provided that the pandemic allows it , there will be numerous PR events and parties in the days leading up to the game, the teams will hold international press conferences. And no matter when exactly the second promised game takes place in Munich, over the coming years the NFL intends to make a significant financial contribution to football development programs.