From a purely sporting perspective, the duel between the New York Giants and Carolina Panthers on Sunday in Munich (3:30 p.m./RTL and Dazn) is more for NFL lovers. Both teams have only won twice this year and lost seven times, and they have absolutely nothing to do with the play-offs or the Super Bowl.
A week after the Chiefs-Dolphins game in November last year, the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts also played in Frankfurt – a 10:6 for the Colts. The result suited the pairing, which was rather dismal from a sporting perspective. This year it could look the same.
Ticket demand “greater than two years ago”
But that doesn’t mean that there is no hype surrounding the game between the Giants and Panthers. “This time we could have sold several million tickets again, the demand was even greater than two years ago,” said Alexander Steinforth, head of the NFL in Germany, at the presentation of the “American Football Madness” trade fair in Düsseldorf.
Today it is still very easy to buy tickets on the secondary market at the original price. This offer wasn’t as wide two years ago, but back then there was probably a little more interest in actually going to the game. Which is not surprising given the more exciting pairing and the fact that it was the NFL’s first regular season game in Germany. And the Allianz Arena is likely to be full again on Sunday.
But that’s not the only thing that speaks for the ongoing hype in this country. Ten NFL teams have acquired marketing rights for Germany, only as many are active in Mexico. Teams are less interested in Great Britain, for example.
Germany as a core market for NFL growth
Steinforth has an explanation for this: “The teams had high expectations and saw that there was potential here. But no matter who you talk to on the US side, everyone was once again pleasantly surprised.” That’s why Steinforth is also convinced “that the German-speaking area will be one of the core markets in the future when it comes to international growth.”
There will be another game in Frankfurt in 2025, and the NFL is also likely to come to Germany. Düsseldorf and Berlin are considered as further locations for games.
