According to NFL executive vice-president and chief strategy and growth officer Chris Halpin, the league is already looking to capitalize on post-pandemic life. Halpin revealed that the league already has plans to take regular-season games over the pond to Europe and specifically Germany as England has benefited from such opportunities in the past.
It is also worth noting that after taking the game to Mexico City in the past as well, the NFL could make its way over the northern border en route to Canada in addition to exploring more European destinations.
The NFL is looking into having games in Germany at some point down the line, NFL exec Chris Halpin said today. So much of what the NFL is trying to do with the new TV deals is grow internationally, and Germany has fans and has produced players in the league. Great for the sport.
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) March 30, 2021
With the NFL now expanding its regular-season slate to 17 games instead of 16, this will obviously allow for some additional wiggle room in terms of bringing the game overseas.
“The additional regular season game allows the NFL to expand its efforts to grow the game globally while maintaining a level of competitive equity by ensuring every team plays an international game over time on a rotating basis,” said Clark Hunt, part-owner and chief executive of the Kansas City Chiefs, via Financial Times. “We would welcome the chance to be the first team to play a regular season game in a new market.”
The 17-game regular-season slate is set to begin with the upcoming 2021-22 campaign as the NFL only recently announced such a decision officially. Adding a game to the 16-game regular-season schedule has seemingly been in the works for a while now, though last year’s COVID-19 pandemic may have forced the league to hold off until 2021-22.
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