NFL touts economic impact of Germany game

MUNICH — The NFL’s inaugural regular-season game in Germany created an economic impact of 70.2 million euros ($77.6 million) for host city Munich, the league said Wednesday.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Seattle Seahawks 21-16 last November at a sold out Allianz Arena, and this coming season two regular-season games will be held in Germany.

The economic figures highlighted the release of the league’s “Munich Game Impact Assessment” report.

“The economic and social impact generated from our first regular-season game is impressive and underlines the positive contribution the game had on the city of Munich and beyond, and we look ahead to playing future games in the country in the coming years,” Alexander Steinforth, the NFL’s general manager for Germany, said in the league’s statement.

The league’s initial agreement was an annual game in Germany for four years, with Munich and Frankfurt each hosting twice.

A second Germany game was added for the upcoming season, however, given the success in Munich in addition to Estadio Azteca in Mexico City being unavailable because of renovations.

The defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and the New England Patriots both will play in Germany in 2023 — with their respective opponents not yet announced.

The league’s Munich report said 32.2 million euros of the total economic impact was in direct spending. It said NFL fans spent on average 333 euros per day in Munich during the game weekend — whereas the average Munich visitor spent 225 euros per day.

The NFL has been staging games in London since 2007, but Germany has surpassed Britain as the NFL’s largest market in Europe.

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