Was it all worth it? The millions that flowed before and during these two games. The effort put in by the city of Frankfurt, by the Bundesliga football club Eintracht Frankfurt, the dozens of employees in the offices, the hundreds of volunteers on the streets.
The National Football League (NFL) was a guest on the Main, for the first time ever, and it organized two sports festivals par excellence, with tens of thousands of enthusiastic football fans in the stadium and in the city, eleven days of international sports enthusiasm in Frankfurt, which was celebrated by its mayor (and head of the sports department ) Mike Josef is often referred to as one of the great sports cities in Germany.
However, quite a few found the costs too high, for the stadium renovation, the new hybrid turf there, the city’s expenses for the law enforcement officers, the provision of the inner city space and more. Quite a few found the fuss caused by the two seasonal games of the strongest football league in the world, which has an annual turnover of 18 billion dollars (16.8 billion euros), too great. You can see it like this.
Almost ten million viewers
But you should also see what these two games triggered. Frankfurt was the center of the international football community for almost two weeks and was part of more than just American sports reporting for days. Of course, that had to do with the pairing that the NFL had assigned for its first guest weekend in Frankfurt: The Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs with all of their stars faced the up-and-coming Miami Dolphins.
Open
Rules, positions, terms: What you need to know about football Image: picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PRESS
The fact that hundreds of international journalists reporting on a football game in Frankfurt bring the city into conversation in New York, London and Tokyo has a value that is difficult to quantify. Numbers that are available? No other NFL international game, which has been held in England, Mexico and Canada since 2007, had as many TV viewers as the one between the Chiefs and the Dolphins in Frankfurt. Almost ten million watched worldwide, the rate was 66 percent higher than the NFL German premiere last year in Munich with Tom Brady and Co.
In addition, things went much better organizationally than in 2022. The entrance and the process went almost smoothly. Also in the second game on Sunday between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts.
Jan Ehrhardt Published/Updated: Recommendations: 4 Jan Ehrhardt, Frankfurt Published/Updated: Recommendations: 5 Jan Ehrhardt Published/Updated: Recommendations: 7
The Eintracht stadium with the areas around it has proven to be an ideal stage for the NFL circus, which also has an impact on the football club, which is looking for international opportunities to strengthen its brand in the competitive sports business, which is above all one thing is: a business. The NFL game brought in 70 million euros in sales last year, and the hotels, restaurants and bars in Frankfurt were also full. Frankfurt has shown that it can play football at a top level. And the world was watching.
