The NFL announced Thursday that it will play one game annually in Germany over the next three seasons after its successful regular-season debut in the country last week.
In a statement, the league said it will play “at least four games in Germany up to 2025,” with Munich hosting two of them and Frankfurt hosting the other two:
On Sunday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks faced off at Allianz Arena in Germany in what was the first regular-season NFL game to ever take place in Germany. The Bucs held off the Seahawks in a 21-16 win.
As part of its announcement, the NFL touted the success of last week’s game in Germany, noting that it drew a sold-out crowd of 69,811 and drew 5.8 million viewers on NFL Network, which is the most ever for an international game.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the league “look[s] forward to returning to Germany in 2023 and bringing the NFL to more fans in the future.”
The NFL has played games almost every year in London since 2007, and in recent years it has attempted to expand its international footprint.
Monday’s game between the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers will mark the fourth NFL game played in Mexico since 2016, while the league also played an annual game in Canada from 2008 through 2013.
The NFL previously held exhibition games in Germany from 1990 to 1994, with all of those games occurring in Berlin.
That was around the time of the formation of NFL Europe, which featured several teams based in Germany until its closure at the conclusion of the 2007 season.
In addition to strengthening its foothold in Germany, the NFL is already looking at other European countries to possibly host games in the future as well.
NFL head of UK and Europe Brett Gosper told
the Associated Press (h/t ESPN) this week that Spain and France are the two nations the league is most heavily considering currently. Gosper also named the Nordic countries, particularly Sweden, as potential future locations for NFL games.
The five regular-season international games played in 2022 will tie the most ever in a single NFL season, and the league seems keen on expanding that number in the future.