Why 800,000 fans vied to see Tom Brady, Bucs face Seahawks in Germany

MUNICH -- For 45-year-old Markus Jantke, determination was nary mode helium was going to miss an accidental to witnesser the NFL's archetypal regular-season crippled played successful Germany.

Not aft being a instrumentality since the 1980s, agelong earlier NFL games were televised connected a play ground and agelong earlier astir of his friends and chap countrymen had immoderate hint astir the athletics he'd grown to emotion contempt being 5,000 miles away.

The time tickets went connected merchantability to the wide nationalist successful July, helium happened to beryllium driving to Munich and pulled implicit to a remainder halt to articulation the queue.

"After fractional an hr of waiting and No. 400,000 connected the waiting list, I discontinue and spell connected to Munich," Jantke said. "Twenty minutes later, I got a telephone from a friend. She asked if I wanted to spell the crippled with her. ... Ten minutes later, different feline called me, 'Markus I got 4 tickets!'"

Mark Van den Eeckhout logged onto the tract connected 5 antithetic devices -- 2 compartment phones, 2 iPads and a notebook. The champion spot helium could get successful enactment was 254,000. But 1 of his buddies got No. 3,500, and helium ordered tickets.

Seven of them volition marque the travel from Paderborn, Germany, a tiny colony adjacent Cologne, to witnesser backmost Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers instrumentality connected the Seattle Seahawks connected Sunday (9:30 a.m. ET, NFL Network) astatine Allianz Arena successful Munich.

"[We] look guardant to the crippled similar small children," said Van den Eeckhout, who has been an NFL instrumentality since helium was 13 oregon 14 years old. "But to beryllium honest, I person nary thought however I'll respond erstwhile the GOAT [Brady] and the Bucs tally onto the field!"

Oliver Robbet, whose shot involvement began with the movie "Any Given Sunday" and who volition marque the travel from Halstenbek, Germany, logged connected to the Ticketmaster tract connected six antithetic devices.

"We got a spot successful the queue astir spot 4,000 and conscionable got tickets connected the apical of the stadium," Robbet said. "A batch of radical were pissed due to the fact that of the secondary market. They utilized bots to get tickets and sold them straight for horrible pricing."

THE TICKET DEMAND was extraordinary.

"We saw immense queues successful the ticketing queue of astir 800,000 people," said Brett Gosper, caput of NFL Europe and U.K. "The fans are perfectly implicit the satellite astir it."

The information that Brady came retired of status aft 40 days successful March had thing to bash with it, and the crippled volition beryllium played astatine the location of FC Bayern Munich, Germany's astir palmy shot team. The NFL received peculiar support to play connected the earthy grass.

"I deliberation the crippled would've ever been highly subscribed, highly sought after," Gosper said. "It's a historical crippled -- whoever's successful it -- but evidently helium puts a batch of icing connected that cake, Tom Brady, by his ain presence, and everyone successful Germany knows who Tom Brady is.

"Tom transcends the sport. So anyone who does that pulls successful assemblage from extracurricular of your avid accepted instrumentality and creates caller fandom, and he's done that brilliantly."

Not to mention, the NFC West-leading Seahawks (6-3) are 1 of the champion stories successful the NFL close now, having won 4 retired of their past 5 games with backmost Geno Smith taking implicit for Russell Wilson aft helium was traded successful the offseason.

As of Tuesday, the cheapest azygous summons connected StubHub successful the southeast country of the stadium that holds astir 70,000 fans was $351, though prices were higher this summer. For 2 seats together, prices started astatine $395 each.

For those who can't marque the travel to Munich, Deutsche Bank Park (Commerzbank Arena) successful Frankfurt, Germany -- which volition big its archetypal NFL crippled successful 2023 -- is holding a unrecorded ticker party.

IT'S VERY DIFFERENT from what the NFL saw erstwhile it hosted its archetypal American Bowl -- a bid of NFL accumulation games that were held extracurricular of the U.S. -- successful Germany. The crippled took spot successful West Berlin connected Aug. 11, 1990 -- 9 months aft the Berlin Wall fell.

Organizers had to springiness tickets distant -- chiefly to those who had small vulnerability to not lone American shot but the Western world, and did not adjacent recognize the rules.

"Most radical did not cognize the athletics astatine all," said Martin Hanselmann, who astir precocious coached the Stuttgart Surge of the European League of Football.

Fast guardant to today, and determination is not lone a procreation of NFL fans successful Germany, but aggregate generations of fans. Gosper said Germany, which started showing games connected TV connected a play ground successful 2015, is the highest-subscribed instrumentality basal extracurricular of the U.S. connected the NFL GamePass streaming platform, adjacent much than the U.K. contempt London hosting 33 regular-season NFL games since 2007.

"It's a immense market," Gosper said of Germany. "Casual fans are increasing astatine the complaint of astir 20% successful the past four, 5 years. But the avid fans person grown betwixt 40 and 50% implicit the past 4 to 5 years."

Rob Donner, who volition be the crippled from Solingen, Germany, stays up to ticker games contempt being six clip zones distant from the United States' East Coast.

"I ticker all Bucs games live," said Donner, who became an NFL and Bucs instrumentality successful 1999. "These tin beryllium astatine 2:20 a.m. successful the mediate of the week. I ever prevention immoderate abrogation days for these games truthful that I don´t person to spell to enactment the aforesaid day."

He stayed up for Week 9 arsenic the Bucs came from down to decision the Los Angeles Rams 16-13. Brady and the discourtesy marched down the tract successful the last minute, with Brady capping a 60-yard thrust with a 1-yard touchdown walk to rookie choky extremity Cade Otton with 9 seconds remaining.

Donner tried not to disturb his girlfriend, who was sleeping erstwhile the Bucs scored astatine 1:25 a.m. section time. But the magnitude of the infinitesimal -- the Bucs (4-5) snapping a three-game losing streak and Brady defeating the Rams for the archetypal clip successful 4 tries -- was excessively much.

"I was going crazy," Donner said. "My canine was truly confused erstwhile I commencement moving astir the surviving room. Then my woman woke up and celebrated with me."

There was a akin country wrong Ned Kelly's Australian Bar successful Munich.

"We each saw Tom Brady being Tom Brady and getting that past astonishing touchdown," said the bar's manager, Alistair Taylor. "There was a immense cheer and a batch of clapping erstwhile it happened!"

NFL SUNDAYS ARE always played successful premier clip successful Germany.

Harit "Harry" Khanna, proprietor of The Keg successful Munich, usually has 3 TVs and 2 projector screens acceptable to go, though sometimes it's arsenic galore arsenic each 8 televisions.

"We enactment unfastened until the radical halt watching!" Khanna said. "Wings Night is connected Sundays due to the fact that of the NFL."

Ned Kelly's has struck a akin tune, advertizing the "complete USA experience," with wings, blistery dogs, nachos and fries.

"Demand has decidedly grown implicit the six oregon truthful years, partially due to the fact that it's go a mainstay of peoples' weeks," said Taylor, who is simply a Seahawks fan. He said helium has customers who person had reservations for months starring up to this week's game.

Those bars usually adjacent astir 2 oregon 2:30 a.m., though Super Bowl Sunday is simply a antithetic communicative and becomes an all-night affair.

"Every Super Bowl crippled is an acquisition successful Germany," Robbet said. "It starts ever precocious and mostly is not implicit earlier 3, 4 a.m., truthful the adjacent time everybody has to work. And you ever spot who watched the game."

Van den Eeckhout's woman and friends inactive won't fto him unrecorded down the information that helium went to furniture astatine the opening of the 4th fourth watching Super Bowl LI with Brady and the New England Patriots down 28-9 to the Atlanta Falcons. Brady went connected to pb the largest Super Bowl comeback successful NFL past aft trailing 28-3 successful the 3rd quarter.

"To beryllium honest, I'm not arrogant of it," Van den Eeckhout said. "Everyone has laughed astatine maine since this Super Bowl, ever asking if I privation to spell to furniture if a squad is precocious successful the lead. And my woman laughs the loudest. I volition ne'er permission a crippled again earlier the last whistle."

THE U.S. MILITARY had a beardown power successful spreading American shot successful Germany. About 100,000 U.S. troops are presently stationed successful Europe, with 35,000 of them dispersed crossed 40 progressive subject installations successful Germany.

"I deliberation the existent question [for the NFL] is, 'Why weren't you successful Germany earlier?'" Gosper said. "Because it's a important European market. In galore ways, it has a larger casual instrumentality basal than successful the U.K. It has a large past of American football."

Hanselmann was archetypal exposed to American shot successful 1982 astatine property 18 erstwhile locals started a squad successful his hometown of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, astir 14 miles from Illesheim -- location of a U.S. Army facility.

"The American soldiers had an important interaction connected this," said Hanselmann, who credits erstwhile San Francisco 49ers backmost Joe Montana for inspiring him to play shot for implicit 10 years earlier becoming a coach. "We had immoderate books done the Army basal and learned a batch from the U.S. players."

Hanselmann got to shadiness members of the Buffalo Bills' coaching unit erstwhile they played the Minnesota Vikings successful the American Bowl successful August 1993 earlier the past 1 was played successful 1994.

"We each were precise impressed by each the athletes there," Hanselmann said. "I besides retrieve that ... Rocket Ismail played for the Vikings, and during the practices I was capable to spot him. His velocity astatine this clip was unbelievable."

SOME HOME COOKING volition beryllium successful bid for Seahawks linebacker Aaron Donkor.

He is from Achern, Germany, and joined the NFL erstwhile helium was assigned to Seattle's signifier squad arsenic portion of the International Player Pathway Program.

He grew up playing hoops but started playing shot erstwhile helium was older, which led to playing assemblage shot astatine the New Mexico Military Institute and Arkansas State.

Naturally, helium knows however welcoming his location state volition beryllium arsenic a first-time regular-season host.

"The Germans, they're going to bash their thing," Donkor said. "They're large hosts. They've been preparing the 1 happening they tin -- similar conscionable organizing and making definite everything is acceptable up. ... It's going to beryllium a Super Bowl successful each consciousness of the word."

Bucs wide receiver Mike Evans, who won a Super Bowl with the Bucs successful 2020, knows what it'll beryllium similar to vie successful that benignant of environment.

"Hopefully we enactment connected a bully show," Evans said.

But nary substance however large the amusement is, Donkor knows however important Germany is for the maturation of shot internationally, particularly successful Europe.

"The Germans are astatine the forefront of American football," Donkor said. "They truly embraced the game. I deliberation aft World War II and the stations, from there, they brought the sports, they brought the civilization and they ne'er truly left. And it was conscionable lingering there. And I deliberation present that the Germany crippled is determination ... that this conscionable comes each unneurotic and radical tin truly clasp the game. I'm excited for that."

WHILE INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL crossed the Atlantic and rapidly adjusting to caller clip zones isn't the astir fun, players similar Evans welcomed the accidental to link with fans from different portion of the satellite and bring the "brand of shot to the fans that are conscionable waiting for america to spell implicit determination and play."

"I've gotten instrumentality message implicit the years from radical successful Germany, truthful I deliberation it's truly chill to beryllium capable to spell to their state and play a regular-season crippled successful beforehand of them due to the fact that evidently they're not capable to travel present each the clip oregon spot america play," cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting added. "So it's decidedly a chill acquisition for us, and I cognize it is for them arsenic well."

Right tackle Tristan Wirfs was acrophobic helium wouldn't beryllium capable to find immoderate acold upwind covering successful size XXXXL, portion antiaircraft tackle Vita Vea seemed to beryllium motivated by the cuisine.

"Man, I'm 'bout to devour schnitzel, pretzels, blistery dogs ... whatever," Vea said.

The NFL committed to 5 games for its planetary bid this twelvemonth -- 3 games successful London, 1 successful Germany and 1 successful Mexico. NFL owners besides passed a solution that says opening successful 2022, each 32 teams volition play internationally astatine slightest erstwhile each 8 years.

And portion their attack volition ever beryllium prime implicit quantity, they are eyeing different markets, keying connected stadiums that tin accommodate astatine slightest 70,000 fans.

"You ne'er cognize erstwhile determination mightiness beryllium a stadium contented successful 1 of those countries," Gosper said. "You ne'er cognize erstwhile a squad extracurricular of that rotation whitethorn say, 'We truly privation to propulsion the Spanish marketplace oregon the French market' oregon whatever. But we bash a reappraisal of those stadiums and halfway markets implicit the adjacent coming years to spot what their availability of viability is.

"So we're not definite where's next, but we're benignant of keeping an oculus connected places similar Spain, similar France, similar Brazil, Canada, etc."