FRANKFURT, Germany — In a perfect world the NFL could just put a team in Germany.
They have great fans and a great atmosphere. It would be terrific. But they’d need to bring back Supersonic jets and elite American free agents aren’t likely to sign to play abroad yet. So for now, it’s sadly not realistic.
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Until it is, the NFL should play at least one game in Germany every year. Last year’s contest in Munich and the two this year in Frankfurt have been overwhelming proof that Germany nailed its audition. This country loves American football and has proven it’s a tremendous host for this kind of event.
There were 50,144 fans in attendance in Frankfurt Sunday to see the Colts beat the Patriots, 10-6. That’s more than Deutsche Bank Park’s listed capacity. If the stadium had held 75,000, they’d have still filled it, all to watch an objectively bad football game. And despite the lack of aesthetics, they were appropriately boisterous right to the end, singing loudly along to “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “Sweet Caroline,” “Don’t Stop Believin’” and “Country Roads, Take Me Home.”
Downtown Frankfurt on Saturday and Deutsche Park on Sunday were a festival of football. There were lots of Patriots fans, who have a strong foothold in Germany, but there were plenty of fans wearing jerseys from teams who weren’t there. Their cheers indicated both knowledge and enthusiasm. On top of that, the bratwurst was excellent and beer was much more reasonably priced in the stadium (€7) than it is stateside. The players appreciated it on both sides.
“It felt like a home game, a little bit of a playoff game because there was so much energy,” Patriots captain Deatrich Wise said despite the loss. “We loved it.”
Colts defensive tackle DeForest Buckner agreed.
“I was getting goosebumps,” Buckner said. “Just the atmosphere. The crowd was amazing. It was actually one of the best atmospheres I’ve ever played in front of. You just brought a lot of juice. There were times when I didn’t know who was making great plays because everybody was cheering for both teams, but that’s what it’s all about. It was amazing. It was definitely a surreal moment for me. I don’t take anything for granted. I’m from a little island out in the Pacific, and this game brought me all the way out to Frankfurt, Germany, so I’m very grateful.”
The fervency with which Frankfurt has embraced football over its history is a reminder how the game’s seeds can grow if cultivated correctly. It should encourage the NFL to gradually continue grow the number of international games it holds every year.
Perhaps every team will someday play eight home games, eight road games and one neutral site game in an international location. But first, the league should gradually build up to eight games a year. One before week with a bye. Each participant gets their bye the following week to counteract the travel.
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There are cities around the world that would be eager to host. Paris, Rio, Sydney/Melbourne, Vienna, Stockholm, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Amsterdam, Madrid/Barcelona, Johannesburg and many others should all be in the rotation. China, Dubai and Moscow would each be attractive if there weren’t human rights concerns, but hopefully someday.
Some locations will underwhelm. For some of those, it will be watering very fresh seeds still very close to the surface. Blooming would be years away. But Germany, even more than London, is a tree in full bloom. Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Gelsenkirchen, Düsseldorf, Mönchengladbach and Cologne all have stadia that hold 50,000 or more. Rotating the game among them would be great for football.
But after this week and last week, part of that rotation should always include Germany.
They earned it.
Follow MassLive sports columnist Matt Vautour on Twitter at @MattVautour424.
