While many consider American Football to be the national sport of the United States, it now has a substantial global following. While the sport may be played in other countries, America will always possess the best teams and the top players.

Interest has spread worldwide in the Super Bowl era to the extent of discussing moving the biggest game outside of the USA. While regular season games have already been played in places such as Mexico and Europe, could we ever see the Super Bowl shifting away from its spiritual home?

 Favorites Clash in London

London may be in pole position among the many cities interested in hosting the Super Bowl. The NFL has played a London series since 2007, initially at Wembley before moving to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the north of the capital.

In 2015, the two favorites for this year’s Super Bowl clashed as the Detroit Lions took on the Kansas City Chiefs. After impressive regular season campaigns, these two franchises head the Super Bowl odds markets, proving that London can offer a home to the best teams in the NFL.

The obvious question for any stadium is whether they have the capacity. The maximum limit for spectators at Tottenham is 62,850, but at Wembley Stadium, this can extend to 80,000 and above. Venues in the United States can comfortably exceed those figures, but with potentially fewer supporters traveling to the game, the Wembley numbers should certainly be adequate.

London seems to be a particular favorite of the NFL right now, but there are alternatives.

Germany Calling

Three countries hosted regular-season Super Bowl games outside the United States in 2024. Aside from England and Brazil, Germany played their part when the New York Giants took on the Carolina Panthers at Munich’s Allianz Arena on November 10.

This was Germany’s fourth NFL match, following up their 2022 debut with two games a year later. The significant advantage for German fans is that their biggest soccer stadiums have huge capacities. The November 2024 game welcomed over 70,000 supporters on the day, and the Allianz Arena could extend to 75,000.

NFL games have also been played at the Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt, but this has a smaller capacity. Another option could be to involve Signal Iduna Park, home of Borussia Dortmund. While reports suggest that the NFL will unlikely head to Dortmund, the stadium can cover demand with a maximum capacity of over 81,000.

South of the Border

Mexico last hosted an NFL game in 2022, but the league will return south of the border next year. Before its hiatus, the country saw five regular season games, and the demand for the sport was undoubtedly high.

While capacity isn’t everything, any stadium that hosts a future Super Bowl needs to accommodate a certain level of fans. That isn’t an issue for Mexico, whose Estadio Azteca Stadium in Mexico City has hosted all five NFL fixtures.

The biggest attendance saw 78,427 supporters watch the San Francisco 49ers take on the Arizona Cardinals in 2022, while the current capacity exceeds 87,000. Mexico City’s proximity to the US could also work in its favor. Rather than fly for hours across Europe, fans could potentially make a shorter trip down south.

Other Contenders

The 2024 NFL season also took in a game in Brazil for the first time. On September 6, the Green Bay Packers faced the Philadelphia Eagles at Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo. The ground was close to its 47,252 capacity for the game, but this is only the fifth-largest stadium in Brazil. If the NFL wants to grow the game here, they may want to seek out other options.

Spain could emerge as a strong contender moving forward. In October 2024, the NFL announced that the iconic Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid would host a regular season game for the first time in 2025. There will undoubtedly be tremendous interest, and the league will monitor whether the stadium can meet its 78,297 capacity.

The 2025 NFL season will see the international program expanded. Until this year, the maximum number of games hosted outside the United States was five in a single campaign. In 2025 eight regular season matches will be split between England, Spain, Mexico, and Brazil.

A higher proportion of games suggests that London would be the preferred destination if the Super Bowl ever did move out of the United States. Tottenham Hotspur and Wembley are in the frame, and they are already familiar to global football fans. But, while there is continued debate over whether this will ever happen, the NFL certainly isn’t short of overseas options.

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