Splayers lying on the ground. Dazed, unconscious. Players trying to get back on their feet as if in slow motion. They stagger, fall, crawl on all fours. Grown men clutching their heads with both hands, which are inadequately protected by their helmets, their faces contorted in pain. These images from the National Football League (NFL) go around the world. And with the growing international awareness of this league, they are reaching more and more households.
This Sunday, the NFL is even broadcasting from Germany, in Munich it is letting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Seattle Seahawks compete against each other. Tens of thousands will watch in the stadium, tens of thousands more at the public viewing, a large German private broadcaster will broadcast live on free TV and via stream on the Internet (3:30 p.m. on Pro Sieben and ran.de). There will be pictures full of outstanding athleticism, full of tactical and technical perfection. Images that inspire and yet also convey an inherent risk of serious injury. Images that are increasingly becoming a problem for a sport that is no longer just played in the USA, the homeland of American football and its strongest league, the NFL.
