A song has accompanied Eric Reutemann since November 13, 2022. At that time, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Seattle Seahawks from the American NFL played against each other – in Munich. The managing director of the Frankfurt Galaxy football team was in the stadium at the time. When the director played “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” Reutemann joined tens of thousands of spectators in singing. It was the moment when German American football fans created something of their own. American sports reporters later said – not without stubbornness, since they also market the league, for whose broadcasting rights their broadcasters pay a lot of money – that they had never experienced such enthusiasm shortly before the end of a long-decided game.
Last season, “Country Roads” established itself in the stadiums of the European League of Football, Reutemann’s memories were awakened weekend after weekend – of the jerseys of the NFL teams that swarmed Munich’s city center. The advantage of these is that they are cut so generously that they can also be worn over thickly lined jackets. “Munich and the NFL completely underestimated this enthusiasm,” says Reutemann: “It was like the German Super Bowl.” Looking ahead, he adds: “In Frankfurt it will be even more extreme.”
Cooperation with German fan clubs
An NFL game will take place in Frankfurt’s Waldstadion this weekend and next weekend. The Kansas City Chiefs will meet the Miami Dolphins this Sunday (3:30 p.m. on RTL and DAZN), and a week later (3:30 p.m. on RTL and DAZN) the New England Patriots will play against the Indianapolis Colts. Reutemann will attend both games as a sports fan in the original sense of the word; he keeps his fingers crossed for the Philadelphia Eagles. Nevertheless, he is as excited as a child. Just a few years ago it was unthinkable that the almost alien NFL would land in his city.
At the same time, Reutemann is responsible for a start-up, Galaxy, founded in 2021. At the moment he can hardly keep his enthusiasm for football and his professional tasks apart. Fortunately, in his role as Galaxy general manager, he gets to attend everything, not just the games, but receptions with city dignitaries and meetings with NFL officials. In his role, Reutemann also has to see their guest appearances as an opportunity to develop Frankfurt and the Galaxy as a football location.
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Back in April he told the FAZ that he was hoping for “activation measures” from the NFL. Reutemann was unable to explain what was meant by the technical term, as nothing had been planned at that time. It is now clear that if the NFL activates its fans in Germany again, it will hardly have any common cause with the Frankfurt Galaxy. So Galaxy’s event team, which consists of Reutemann and Nico Heinen, cooperates primarily with German fan clubs of NFL franchises.
2023-11-04 13:07:54
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