The Bundesliga doesn’t see the NFL as a possible competitor but a facilitator of its own growth in a key market like the US.
For the second year in a row, the National Football League (NFL) has visited Germany for a regular season game. This season, the Kansas City Chiefs hosted the Miami Dolphins at the Deutsche Bank Arena the home of Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt. While Frankfurt won 3-0 away against Union Berlin, the Chiefs beat the Dolphins 21-14 at the Deutsche Bank Arena in front of 50,023 boisterous fans.
On and off the field, the game was a massive success for not only the NFL but also the Bundesliga. The league, in fact, is not only set to host another game in Frankfurt on Nov. 12, 2023, when the New England Patriots face the Indianapolis Colts but will continue to play games in Germany over the next four years. Those games are part of a collaboration agreement between the NFL and the Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL) the governing body of the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga.
The partnership agreement was signed between former DFL CEO Donata Hopfen and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell last year when the NFL played its first ever regular season game in Germany between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Seattle Seahawks at the Allianz Arena in Munich. Both sides now hope to increase the partnership over the next few years, creating a synergy effect that is supposed to help the DFL to increase its presence in the United States while the NFL is hopeful to use the Bundesliga as a mechanism to grow American football in Germany.
