The NFL has fallen in love with the Iberian Peninsula.
On Friday, the league introduced that it’s going to host an everyday season recreation at Actual Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in 2025. The groups have but to be chosen, however the contest in Madrid will make Spain the sixth completely different nation exterior of america to host an NFL recreation that counts within the standings.
Two months in the past, the NFL introduced that it plans to play an everyday season recreation in Sao Paolo, Brazil in 2024. On Monday, the league mentioned that will probably be the season-opening recreation, one performed by the Philadelphia Eagles.
England has been an everyday vacation spot for the league whereas Germany and Mexico have additionally hosted video games in recent times. The Buffalo Payments performed a number of video games in Toronto within the 2010s as rampant discuss of their potential relocation to Canada swirled round them as a result of getting older of Highmark Stadium. (The Payments are constructing a brand new venue and remaining in Buffalo.)
The NFL has been dedicated to increasing its worldwide footprint for years. Two years in the past, it launched the Global Markets Program, which allowed particular person franchises to pick out nations exterior of the U.S. and construct fan engagement and sponsorship packages. As of final Could, 21 groups chosen 14 completely different worldwide markets, and it might be protected to imagine that each workforce within the league will take part sooner or later. No workforce has chosen Spain as of but.
Spain isn’t a very new territory for the NFL or American soccer, though Madrid itself is. The Barcelona Dragons performed in numerous incarnations of the World League of American Soccer and NFL Europe from 1991 till 2003. That workforce performed within the World Bowl 4 instances, profitable simply as soon as in 1997.