The NFL is a guest in Germany and the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers deliver late: It gets tight in the last quarter, also because Tom Brady throws the second interception of the season. Then the superstar shows his class again in the last drive.
Superstar Tom Brady smiled and waved at the almost 70,000 fans before disappearing into the catacombs of Munich’s Allianz Arena with the football from the first NFL game on German soil in his hand. “It was a great atmosphere, it felt electrifying. I hope the German fans got what they wanted,” enthused the best football player in history after his Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost 21:16 to the Seattle Seahawks.
The first main round game of the National Football League in Germany took place in front of a brilliant backdrop, which the stars from overseas will not soon forget. “The energy was great. I can’t wait to come back. It would be great if the NFL came back here,” said Brady’s teammate Julio Jones at DAZN, praising the audience’s enthusiasm: “I knew it was so big would be, but not to this extent.” The 45-year-old also made an interception in the final quarter.
For the Superbowl winner of 2021 it was the second win in a row after a mixed start to the season; Coach Todd Bowles’ team solidified their lead in the NFC South. The Seahawks conceded their first loss after four straight wins. Hours before kickoff, thousands of football fanatics had turned the esplanade in front of the Allianz Arena into a crazy NFL party. Later, around 69,800 people continued to celebrate in the stadium and caused deafening noise with La Ola waves. Most of them didn’t stay in their seats for a single minute. According to the league, the rush for tickets for the first NFL game in Germany was huge. Around three million tickets could have been sold.
German sports celebrities didn’t want to miss Brady’s first appearance either. Thomas Müller, Jamal Musiala and Co. gathered on the sidelines before the trip to the World Cup meeting point for the national soccer team; their Bundesliga colleagues Mats Hummels (Dortmund) and Christoph Kramer (Mönchengladbach) as well as tennis pro Alexander Zverev followed the historic football game from the stands. Everyone had to be patient until the first points. Perhaps the strains of the journey and the jetlag were responsible for a lack of concentration on both sides in the beginning. Seattle’s rising playmaker Geno Smith was brought down on a pass attempt and the Buccaneers missed a field goal attempt.
It wasn’t until the beginning of the second quarter that Brady freaked out the fans. Just as loud “Seahawks” chants echoed through the arena, the 45-year-old playmaker threw the ball at Julio Jones. The agile pass recipient danced out the Seahawks defense and ran into the end zone. After another touchdown, the 2021 Superbowl winner went on break 14-0.
League boss Roger Goodell followed the action with a satisfied expression. The atmosphere should be reason enough for the 63-year-old commissioner to bring more games from the world’s best football league to Germany in the future. Before the kickoff, the “Bild” reported that there should be another game next year in addition to the game in Frankfurt/Main that was already planned.
When a field goal put the Seahawks on the scoreboard for the first time, the green-and-blue supporters freaked out for the first time. Who wasn’t impressed at first? Sure, Tom Brady, who announced his lightning comeback in March after just 40 days. The most successful footballer in history demonstrated his skills with his second touchdown pass in the last quarter. The Seahawks then started their final offensive, also thanks to an intercepted pass from Brady: quarterback Smith first found Tyler Lockett, then Marquise Goodwin. The Seahawks fought, but in the end the Buccaneers triumphed. The game in Munich was the best advertisement for the German NFL market.
In September, RTL announced that it had secured extensive broadcasting rights to the NFL. From the 2023/24 season, the Cologne broadcaster will broadcast up to three games per week exclusively live on free TV on RTL and NITRO. In addition, one game per week can be seen exclusively on the streaming service RTL. Football fans can look forward to around 80 live broadcasts between September and February each season.
Germany is the most important growth market for the NFL. In this sense, the deal was also commented on by the headquarters of the league, which generates double-digit billions every year: “In this new partnership, RTL will play a key role in supporting the NFL in making football more accessible and more widely available and new and To provide existing NFL fans with the kind of coverage that will further deepen their connection to the sport,” Sameer Pabari, NFL’s managing director of international media, said in the statement.
