Berlin Launches Bid to Host Future NFL International Games

Berlin’s city government has launched a campaign to host NFL games over a five-year period from next year, two days after the latest pro football game in Germany drew another sellout crowd.

Berlin would be the third German city to host regular-season games after Munich, which hosted in 2022 and the Carolina Panthers’ 20-17 overtime win over the New York Giants on Sunday, and Frankfurt last year. Games would be held at the Olympiastadion, which hosted NFL exhibition games in the 1990s and has a capacity of more than 74,000. It has hosted the finals of the 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup and European Championship this year.

“I usually tell people, ‘Don’t believe rumors.’ In this case, I might say, ‘Believe it.’ We’re working on it, but it isn’t finalized. We really feel like Berlin would be a great addition, so we’re looking very hard at that. Our people have been working very hard at it,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a Q-and-A session with fans in Munich. “But I want to add that does not mean we’re not going to be back in Frankfurt and Munich.”

Up until this year, the NFL had capped international games at four per season. Now, starting in 2025, the league has doubled its inventory to eight per year. There were five this season in London, Munich and Sao Paulo.

“It starts with a really massive fan base globally,” said Matt Shapiro, vice president, NFL global event and marketing strategy, told SportsTravel earlier this fall. “We have over 165 million fans across eight of the markets that we look at and no doubt broader than that overall. We’re in nearly 200 countries with 80 media partners, 25 different languages and we know that there is an appetite for the NFL globally.”

The league is heading to Spain for the first time next year with a game in Madrid.

“Spain is clearly an exciting opportunity for a number of reasons,” Shapiro said. “The market overall, where we have a strong and healthy fan base, and the partnership with Real Madrid is a pretty unique opportunity to bring the NFL and Real together. Their stadium is right in downtown Madrid, recently renovated and one of the greatest stadiums in the world.”

The Berlin city government said in a statement it was hoping for “significant economic added value” and it would seek to popularize flag football in schools ahead of its addition to the Olympic program in Los Angeles in 2028.