Earlier this summer, the Michigan football team announced plans to open up the 2026 season with a game in Germany. The Wolverines are set to play Western Michigan to begin the year, and it is looking like the game will take place at Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, Germany. However, athletic director Warde Manuel recently revealed that “nothing is set in stone.”
The game between Michigan and Western Michigan would go down on August 29th, 2026. The Wolverines performed a site visit to the stadium, but they are still figuring things out.
“The talks have been ongoing about it,” Manuel said, according to an article from 247Sports. “It's not set in stone that we're doing it. Several of my staff went over to do a site visit at Deutsche Bank Stadium, talked to their staff, looked at hotels, looked at different, the different venues that we would use, all the things that we really need to figure out whether or not this is a game that can be done. The good news is the NFL has had two games in Frankfurt at Deutsche Bank Stadium. The site visit was enlightening from that perspective.”
A big factor for Michigan lies on the financial side of things. The Wolverines would be missing out on a game at their home stadium in Ann Arbor, and this stadium in Germany is barely half the size of the Big House.
“We're working through it from the financial perspective,” Manuel continued. “That stadium seats 59,000. We have a stadium of 107,000. You're looking at can you make the financials work so that we're not losing money on the game. There are other things around it — sponsorships, travel and all.”
If the game does happen in Germany, it would be an incredible opportunity for the student-athletes, and the Michigan players are excited about it.
“I can tell you there's a lot of excitement amongst the team when Sherrone told them about this possibility,” Manuel added. “There was excitement about playing an international game. We've done the international trips with our team. This is an added value for them to be able to go over and actually play a game this time.”
The Michigan football team would be opening up the season during Week 0 next year if the game happens. The Wolverines would then have a bye week during Labor Day weekend, and they would welcome Oklahoma to Ann Arbor in Week 2.
