Goodell: NFL working 'very hard' on Berlin game

MUNICH — NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has an answer for German fans wondering about rumors the league could be heading to their capital city of Berlin: “Believe it.”

The NFL played its first regular-season game in Germany in Munich in 2022 then two games in Frankfurt the following year. Munich is hosting Sunday’s matchup between the New York Giants and Carolina Panthers, the fifth and last international game of the season.

“I usually tell people, ‘Don’t believe rumors.’ In this case, I might say, ‘Believe it,'” Goodell said in a Q-and-A session with fans in Munich. “We’re working on it, but it isn’t finalized. We really feel like Berlin would be a great addition, so we’re looking very hard at that. Our people have been working very hard at it. But I want to add that does not mean we’re not going to be back in Frankfurt and Munich.”

German news agency dpa and broadcaster RTL both reported Saturday that the Berlin city government was discussing plans for a game.

Berlin wasn’t one of the German cities that initially bid to host regular-season games. The three finalists selected in 2021 were Frankfurt, Munich and Dusseldorf, which has not hosted a game.

Berlin holds a personal significance for Goodell. He recounted Saturday how he was involved in the NFL’s first exhibition game in Germany in 1990 — less than a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall — between the Los Angeles Rams and Kansas City Chiefs at Berlin’s Olympiastadion, or Olympic Stadium.

“It was one of my favorite events,” Goodell said. “The German fans were just fantastic and overwhelming.”

NFL team owners voted in December to authorize the league to host eight games internationally each season, though Goodell has said he has a long-term target of 16.

The league hosted its first game in Brazil this season and is heading to Spain for the first time next year with a game in Madrid. London hosted three games this season.