The Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins fans might face a little disappointment. The game, which is going to be an absolute thriller, is happening 4,716 miles away from Kansas City. Germans will physically witness the defending champions facing off against the team with the best offense. Then there’s the Patrick Mahomes vs. Tua Tagovailoa rivalry. Plus Tyreek Hill facing his former team for the first time. But alas, the NFL Gods have decreed that home fans must watch the match on a screen. So, why is the NFL taking such a drastic step by raining on American fans’ parade?

The Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs are at the top of their respective divisions. Both have a 6-2 record. And both have 2 QBs who probably have the strongest claims to the MVP title. But the similarities end there. The Chiefs are headed by Andy Reid who has been head coach for 23 years, while the Dolphins are led by Mike McDaniel who only rose to the position of HC last year. The Dolphins won their last Super Bowl half a century ago, while the Chiefs have won 2 SBs in the last 4 years. What does the NFL want to achieve? Well, the prediction has turned into reality as the Chiefs gear up to face the Dolphins in Frankfurt.

The NFL and the Chiefs want to expand the borders of the Chiefdom beyond America’s borders

We know that the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, has set an ambitious target- to reach a revenue of $28 billion by 2027. Buoyed by the success of last year’s game on German soil, where they generated an economic impact of  €70.2 million, they want to push harder this year. According to the Arrowhead Addict, on average, NFL fans spent €108 more daily than the average tourist. To capitalize on this, as part of their International Home Marketing Areas project, Kansas City Chiefs and 4 other teams, were chosen to grow the organization’s brand and support in Germany.

And Kansas City jumped at the offer. In November 2022, Forbes reported the Chiefs president Mark Donovan expressing, “We’ve been very, very aggressive. We’re very excited about what we’ve been doing in Germany. We’ve shown great progress so far in growing our brand.” As early as November last year, Germans spotted billboards predicting the arrival of the Chiefs on German soil. “This is a long-term process,” said Donovan. “Our first focus will be on expanding the awareness of the Kansas City Chiefs as part of the NFL, fortunately we hold a pretty strong position in the German fanbase compared to other fanbases.” Now, it’s all happening!

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However, this is not the Chiefs’ first game in Germany. 33 years ago, they had played against the Los Angeles Rams. And Germany has had a strong Chiefs fanbase since then. In fact, a German couple is such an ardent fan of the Chiefs that the duo flew down to Kansas City from across the Atlantic, just to get married in the home of their favorite team. When online portals finally went live for the sale of tickets, the 50,000-odd tickets for the game were sold out in minutes! And there were a million people more in the online queue praying to get a ticket to watch the rare game in person. The upcoming Frankfurt battle is arguably one of the most lucrative opportunities for the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Kansas City has more at stake than just a game! 

NFL’s German push is a quid pro quo move as Germany is also considering establishing a World Cup base in the US, and they are hoping to make Kansas City its home. DFB  (translates to the German National Football Team) declared that the “upcoming World Cup will take place in the USA, Mexico and Canada in 2026.” 

The Chiefs QB is no stranger to soccer. His superwife is a former soccer player and the couple also owns stakes in the women’s soccer team Kansas City Current and the men’s soccer team Sporting KC. All that is good, but what if the Chiefs lose to the Dolphins on Sunday? The Kansas City is sending over 36  people to the game on German spoil to bring back business to the city. Patrick Mahomes has a massive opportunity to win the hearts of the squad’s international proportions, and the pressure is real.

There is one more lens to this situation. Chiefs defensive coordinator is not too sad about it. He had served in the same role for the now-defunct team, Frankfurt Galaxy, which was part of the NFL Europe. Speaking to the ChiefsWire, Spagnuolo said, “That was a tremendous experience. I loved it. We ended up going to the World Bowl, which was in Frankfurt that year.” The last time the Chiefs were in Germany, they lost to the LA Rams. And now there have been rumblings from within the team as well. “Yeah, it sucks,” Marquez Valdes-Scantling told CBS Sports. “But obviously we do have other fans that are all over the world, not just in the United States. So it gives them the opportunity to see some of their favorite players play.”

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The Dolphins played smart by arriving in Germany on Tuesday itself, while the Chiefs left on Thursday. They arrived on Friday, jet-lagged and understandably exhausted. Saturday is usually a day of no practice. It’s intended to help players gather all the physical strength they can for the Sunday game. Will this prove fatal for the Chiefs who seek to impress their German fans who far outnumber Dolphins fans? The kick-off is at 9:30 a.m. ET, on November 5 at Deutsche Bank Park, Frankfurt, Germany.

Editorial Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of EssentiallySports. 

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