The 5 Expansion Cities for an International NFL Team?
If the league is serious about going global then it needs to add an international NFL team. Here are five overseas cities that could host a franchise.
The first teams revealed for the 2022 NFL International games! 🏈🗺️@nflmx | @NFLUK | @NFLDeutschland pic.twitter.com/PDqtga9Xit
— NFL (@NFL) February 28, 2022
5. Düsseldorf, Germany
The old NFL Europa that ran from 1991-2007 had five of its six teams based in Germany in its final format. One of those teams which represented the area was Rhein Fire, a team that managed to average crowds of over 25,000 in the final year of the league.
An international NFL Team in Dusseldorf could easily work. In the Europa League days Dusseldorf hosted 4 of 15 World Bowls. American football was so popular in the city it competed head-to-head in popularity with soccer.
Düsseldorf went close to hosting an NFL International Series game. The city was pipped at the post by Frankfurt and Munich. American Football's popularity in Dusseldorf could land the city an international NFL team.
NFL announces that three cities in Germany — Düsseldorf, Munich and Frankfurt — are under consideration to host a regular season game, potentially in 2022.
Big move for the league as they look to expand internationally. — Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) October 12, 2021
4. Toronto, Canada
Canada is capable of hosting an international NFL team with an estimated 7 million NFL fans in the country. Toronto makes the most sense as the fourth-largest city in North America.
The Buffalo Bills played six regular season NFL games in Toronto averaging crowds over 47,000. Canadian Football League team the Toronto Argonauts are also the oldest professional sports team in North America to use their original name.
Toronto needs to attract more NFL international series fixtures and the 52,000-seat Rogers Center falls short of the minimum 65,000-seats needed for an NFL stadium.
The #NFL is looking to potentially move a team to Toronto, Canada.
They hope to build a strong following in Canada and might move a professional team there as soon as 2030. pic.twitter.com/b4j0sCjLs2 — Nathan McKinnon (@unathanmckinnon) April 5, 2022
3. Frankfurt, Germany
There's no team more deserving of an international NFL Team than Frankfurt. The Frankfurt Galaxy were the most successful team in NFL Europa winning four World Bowls. They also had the highest attendances in the league with an average of over 33,000 in 2007.
Frankfurt has become an NFL International Series host city and almost 20 million Germans are fans of American football, so an international NFL Team in the country makes sense.
Outside of North America, Germany has had the most players in the league including one of the best international NFL players of all time Sebastian Vollmer.
...I'll be back tomorrow with the final part, and the two favourites for international expansion cities in the NFL.
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Wait so how does it work? Would they then participate in the regular season and fly like every second weekend to the US to play their games? Wouldn'*t this be a little excessive, espeically if it is in Europe?
Canada I would understand as this is also how the NHL does it.
Great question and this problem has been theorised. What it would involve is an international franchise playing the season home/away in chunks. So they'd play a month at home, then a month away etc. It would reduce the amount of times they'd need to travel internationally
I think a European team is barely doable, I think yes it would be challenging, but if the league really preps and just throws the kitchen sink at it, a European team would be so fun and pretty legendary. England or Germany certainly would be perfect. Your attendance stats are super interesting to point out! Canada would be good for obvious reasons. Can't wait to see your top selections!
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Thx bro. I'd love to see it, it would help the game to go global! I think Germany deserves it but commercially it would be better at the top two which you'll see shortly 😁
Yes, I could only imagine how cool the game would get it if it went more global. The Super Bowl is already massive, if Europe was more involved directly, man. That would just be amazing madness, in a good way hahahaha!!! Just warriors going at it. The Madden video game would be so much more interesting too! 😄😁 The more I think about it, the more possibilities come to mind. Sport really brings people together in my opinion. Sport gets competitive, but at the end of the day, sport is beautiful too and teaches great life lessons.
I think that as much as they would like to extend to Europe that the travel would just be too difficult for the league. If any of these cities actually have the finances and ability or desire on the part of their population to host a team, I think it will have to be in Canada.
It makes sense with the other major leagues having a presence. When you split the season up and have an international franchise play 4-6 home games straight, then a month road trip in America it becomes more feasible that it could work