Since adding the Houston Texans as its 32nd club before the 2002 season, the NFL has not grown. On a worldwide scale, the league’s figurative footprint appears to be expanding constantly, and on Sunday, Germany will host its first regular-season game while joining – at least temporarily – the schedule of International Series games.
What do you need to know about the Week 10 game between the Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which will be played in Munich, other than the fact that it will be a clash between first-place teams and the first time that it will take place abroad?
Germany is receiving a prolonged trial, but it’s too soon to tell if it can secure a slot on the league schedule permanently like United Kingdom games have. The NFL will play two games in Munich and two in Frankfurt over the course of the following four seasons, including this one. When tickets went on sale for this year’s game on July 19, they nearly instantly sold out.
What location will host the game?
The match will take place at Allianz Arena, the home of FC Bayern Munich, the current Bundesliga champion, with the Buccaneers serving as the official home team. For soccer games, the 17-year-old venue can accommodate 70,000 to 75,000 spectators.
Before what would eventually become MetLife Stadium opened in 2010, the New York Giants and Jets had considered a naming rights agreement with Allianz, a German financial services and insurance company. In the end, any agreement with the NFL teams’ building was unworkable due to Allianz’s interactions with the Nazis during World War II.