NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell all but said this week that the league will play a game in Berlin next season. To that end, Berlin’s city government launched its official bid campaign Tuesday, the Associated Press reports.
Berlin wants to host NFL games over a five-year period starting next year.
Munich and Frankfurt already have hosted regular-season games in Germany.
Games in Berlin would be played at the Olympiastadion, which hosted NFL exhibition games in the 1990s and has a capacity of more than 74,000. It’s previously hosted the finals of the men’s soccer World Cup in 2006 and European Championship this year.
Berlin did not originally bid to host NFL games when the league initially began expanding its international schedule. Frankfurt, Munich and Dusseldorf were the finalists in 2021. Dusseldorf still has not hosted a game.
The Berlin city government said in a statement it was hoping for “significant economic added value” from having the NFL and wants to popularize flag football in schools ahead of its addition to the Olympics in 2028.
Goodell said the NFL is working “very hard” to bring the league to the German capital but still could also play games in Frankfurt and Munich.
NFL owners approved eight international games each season.
The NFL held five games overseas this year, playing in London, Munich and Sao Paulo.
Madrid, Spain, will be one new location for a game in 2025.
