NFL is making history with the Frankfurt Games 2023

For the first time in NFL history, two regular season games took place in Germany and successfully concluded the NFL International Games 2023

On November 5th and 12th, the National Football League’s first-ever back-to-back games during the regular season took place in Frankfurt. The Miami Dolphins lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 14:21 and the Indianapolis Colts defeated the New England Patriots 10:6.

As the NFL returned to Frankfurt – a city with a rich American football tradition – fans from all over Germany and beyond came together to celebrate the two highly anticipated games.

The demand for NFL activities in the Main metropolis was huge. There were meter-long queues at all the NFL merchandising shops as well as at the numerous football challenges at the NFL Fan Experience at Roßmarkt. The entire city became the center for the NFL community for two weeks through various team pubs, parties and many other activities.

NFL Frankfurt Games in numbers

• 100,167 fans attended the two consecutive games at the Frankfurt Stadium, home of Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt.
• The game between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs on November 5th was watched by 9.6 million viewers on TV and digitally, making it the most-watched international game on NFL Network. Compared to the game in Week 10 last season in Munich, the number of spectators increased by 66 percent.
• Broadcast partner RTL celebrated great ratings success with the NFL Frankfurt Games. With up to 1.51 million viewers and an excellent 20.0 percent market share in the target group of 14 to 49 year olds, the Kansas City Chiefs performance achieved season bests. The second game in Frankfurt also broke the million mark and continued the NFL’s extraordinary success with young audiences on free TV. Up to 1.08 million fans watched the Colts’ victory, generating a strong market share of 14.7 percent among 14 to 49 year olds.
• Merchandising and fan articles are booming. From a retail perspective, the Miami Dolphins vs. Kansas City Chiefs game on November 5th was the highest-per-capita international game ever spent, and NFL Shop Europe reported its highest-grossing Sunday ever.
• NFL Germany’s social media channels recorded 60 million video views and 3 million fan interactions during the two game weeks – during the same period, the growth in followers across all NFL Germany channels was around 50,000.
• As part of the NFL’s Global Markets Program, teams with relevant marketing rights in Germany were active during the game weeks in Frankfurt: The Kansas City Chiefs with the “ChampionShip” and the New England Patriots with the “Patriots Haus” – they organized activities for the fans Location; the Carolina Panthers also took over a local Frankfort bar and restaurant to host a watch party.
• Over 100,000 fans attended the NFL Experience in downtown Frankfurt – a free fan activity in the heart of the city to get fans in the mood for the two Frankfurt Games.

Alexander Steinforth, General Manager of NFL Germany, is enthusiastic about the NFL’s second official appearance in Germany: “The numbers speak for themselves: the NFL has arrived in Germany. We’ve seen a lot of ‘firsts’ in the past 24 months: the NFL premiere in Munich in 2022, the opening of the NFL Germany office a few weeks ago and most recently the NFL premiere with two games in Frankfurt. We are more than satisfied and grateful that the four NFL teams were warmly welcomed by the fans and guests in Frankfurt. We are already looking forward to continuing our collaboration with our partners in the city of Frankfurt and Eintracht Frankfurt Stadion GmbH.”

Mayor Mike Josef added: “There were great pictures of Frankfurt that were brought into the world on the occasion of the two NFL games. Pictures of happy people who celebrated Frankfurt and American football. The city presented itself as an excellent host and we were rewarded with the positive feedback from the teams, the fans but also from economic players such as retailers and the hospitality industry. We are grateful that we have been given the opportunity to present our great city in such a way and to offer it as a stage for these outstanding sporting events – cosmopolitan and emotional!”

Following the historic games in Frankfurt this season, the NFL has committed to playing a regular season game in Germany every year for the next two years – until 2025. In addition to the two games in Frankfurt, three further games took place in London in October as part of the 2023 NFL International Games, with the Jacksonville Jaguars becoming the first team ever to play two consecutive games at international level.