NFL picks 3 German cities to bid for regular-season game
Associated PressLONDON — The NFL selected the cities Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich on Tuesday to enter a final bidding stage to host a regular-season game in Germany. “Those cities will now participate in deeper conversations about staging games in Germany.” Germany has a strong and growing NFL fan base and one of the world’s largest economies, making the country a logical target for a league with visions of worldwide growth. France, Spain and “the Nordics” are also in the league’s longer-term sights to host games, Gosper told The Associated Press last week. After Germany, the league’s analysis has shown that France would be the next logical European host, followed by Spain and “the Nordics are very strong, too,” Gosper said last week. “There might be five or six teams each in Germany and in the UK who decide to come here and activate, and they may well wish to put games on to accelerate that activation possibility.” Chris Halpin, NFL chief strategy and growth officer, said Tuesday that they are evaluating foreign-rights proposals from “well more than half” of the league’s teams.