E It’s carnival time in Munich. Men in particular arrive from everywhere and dress up in their costumes. They put on caps with a panther on the front or a big “G.” Such a carnival was celebrated in the city two years ago. For the first time, a regular <a href="https://www.archysport.com/2022/01/i-already-want-to-see-my-cowboys-new-tigres-stadium-dreams-of-nfl/" title="'I already want to see my Cowboys'; New Tigres Stadium Dreams of NFL“>National Football League game took place in Munich and it was possible to see how much fun a wealthy European can have when he dresses up like he imagines a simple football fan in the USA to be.
You have to spend a bit of money if you want to be there on Sunday for the guest game of the biggest league in the world. The tickets cost between 83.50 and 207 euros. The cheapest hospitality ticket was available for around 800 euros. The FC Bayern arena in the north of Munich will be packed. No wonder, the NFL doesn’t come to Europe every day.
It doesn’t matter who is actually playing. Two years ago, that was something special when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came with Tom Brady, the best quarterback of all time. This time the New York Giants are playing against the Carolina Panthers. Not exactly the best. Both teams have only won twice this season and will certainly not be fighting for the title. No matter, the event is still marketed as the “sporting event of the year”. Wasn’t that more like the men’s European Football Championship?
Anyone who walks through Munich city center these days will not be able to imagine that an event of comparable importance could have taken place here this year. Panels of fabric with NFL logos fly from every available flagpole in the city. A tram dressed in football clothing hums through the city and countless billboards have been put up by the NFL to hammer home to all those who have a hard time with American sports culture that something really great is happening.
Legends and mascots
Of course there is also a fan festival. Panthers supporters will be celebrating for two days on the posh Wittelsbacherplatz. “Look forward to NFL legends, the Panthers cheerleaders and the team mascot. Live podcasts, cool DJ sets and exciting competitions!” says the event homepage. Sure, let’s do it. Just as we are pleased that the traditional restaurants in the city are hiding their bullseye windows behind NFL stickers in order to create a suitable ambience for fans of the fighting game with the ball, the shape of which resembles “an elongated ellipsoid of revolution with pointed ends,” as it says in Wikipedia says.
And so the Augustiner on Neuhauser Straße becomes the “team pub” of the Panthers, whose fans can only hope that no US industrial beer will be served there. The Giants can be found at the Hofbräuhaus on game weekends, and fans of the Colts, Chiefs, Falcons, Seahawks and Patriots also have their own pubs. Even a department store driven into ruin by René Benko is reopening. A huge fan shop will be set up in the otherwise empty house on Stachus. It’s pure madness.
In the German Bundesliga, it is said that the managers still see a lot of room for improvement in foreign marketing. They are right. Will an entire city in the USA one day mask up when Augsburg and Mainz play a regular league game in Dallas? You can’t really imagine it.
