The Long Tradition of American Football in Frankfurt am Main, Germany

If you can say that about American football in Germany, then Frankfurt am Main already has a long tradition in this sport. Imported by US soldiers stationed here, a five-digit number of spectators came to the Waldstadion in the early 1990s, and the Galaxy team played here intermittently until 2007. Now big football was on offer again in the same place, even if it was officially a Kansas home game City Chiefs acted.

The Chiefs defeated the Miami Dolphins 21:14, in a game that over in the time-shifted homeland of football probably woke up many spectators early in the morning in the final quarter at the latest. These spectators were once again delighted to see how this game was celebrated on the other side of the Atlantic, just as they did a year ago at the German NFL premiere game in Munich. Once again the entire stadium sang “Country Roads” by John Denver, and thousands of cell phones were lit up again. The ritual of singing this song dates back to the ancient Galaxy times.

“The crowd was phenomenal,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said after the game. A lot of noise in the stadium is often an advantage for the home team in football, and it was definitely loud, probably even louder than a year ago in Munich. They had come from all over Europe, which was easy to hear in the stands. In the end it wasn’t so bad that a woman didn’t fly across the Atlantic after all. “I don’t care if Taylor Swift comes,” said a slightly annoyed Chiefs fan on the train to Frankfurt that morning. The hype surrounding the country and pop singer had temporarily pushed the sporting value of this top game into the background. Swift has a fling with Chiefs player Travis Kelce, and whenever she watched him live, Kelce played better. Fittingly, Kelce remained completely inconspicuous this time.

In between, the tension subsided – but someone proposed marriage in front of the camera

But the Swift story tells a lot about what the NFL is about when it comes to market expansion: Just with the rumor mill on social media – Saturday evening Swift was still in New York, but she has her own jet! – the NFL probably reached a lot of people in Germany who aren’t even interested in football.

The supporting program for the first of two Frankfurt games (next Sunday the New England Patriots host the Indianapolis Colts) also had enough to offer for emotions: a Chiefs fan proposed to his girlfriend in front of the camera, in front of 48,000 cheering fans. This time there was also a half-time show, the first in Germany, Nico Santos and the rapper Kontra K gave a short appearance between many lasers.

All of this was necessary until the break because the game apparently couldn’t maintain the tension that it had promised in advance. The Miami Dolphins didn’t find their explosive offensive game at all in the first half, the Chiefs at least occasionally: Playmaker Patrick Mahomes successfully drove his team to a touchdown in the first attack, and at the end of the second half Jerick McKinnon increased the score to 14-0. Then, of all people, Miami’s Tyreek Hill, who until two years ago was a Chiefs player and perhaps the best pass receiver in the league, made a momentous mistake: Under pressure, he dropped the ball, the Chiefs defense carried it into the end zone, and with the 21st :0 the game seemed almost decided. The Dolphins came back with two touchdowns in the final quarter, but the offense lost its nerve in the final attack.

There was also a typical German mishap: During a long punt, the egg hit the video cube under the stadium roof and the kick had to be repeated. German stadiums may be a bit too small for American football in the long term. But the visit still seems to have been a complete success. “It was loud the whole time and there was red everywhere,” enthused Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes after the game. It felt “like a home game.”

That’s why there will probably be more of them in the future, even if these “home games” are 8,000 kilometers away from home.

2023-11-05 20:40:24
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