NFL’s first regular season game in Germany to include this Sunshine State team.
The NFL is expanding its international series to include Germany in 2022, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were selected as one of the participants for the league’s Deutschland debut.
The date and opponent for the Bucs has yet to be determined, according to a news release, but the game is slated for Münich’s Allianz Arena, which is home to soccer club FC Bayern München.
The Bavarian city won the right to host an NFL regular season game for the 2022 season over two other German city finalists. They were Frankfurt and Düsseldorf, ESPN reported.
“We look forward to participating in the first regular season NFL game in Munich, Germany later this fall as part of the International Series,” Buccaneers owner and co-chairman Joel Glazer said in a statement. “This historic game will play a crucial role in the NFL’s efforts to grow its international footprint while allowing us to directly engage NFL fans in Germany.”
Germany is scheduled to host games in 2023 in Frankfurt, 2024 in Munich and 2025 in Frankfurt.
After the NFL expanded its regular season to include 17 games, it was determined that up to four teams from the conference that had a ninth regular season game scheduled for home were eligible for the neutral site international trip starting with the 2022 season.
In December, the Bucs “were granted access to Germany as an international home marketing area, along with the Carolina Panthers, Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots,” according to news release.
It’s the first time the NFL has had games in Germany since the 1990s, when they held preseason games from 1990 to 1994, ESPN reported.
The Bucs’ trip gives them the fourth-most international games in the international series after it started in 2007. They’re ranked behind the Jaguars (making their ninth trip in 2022), Dolphins (five games) and Raiders (five).
The Bucs previous three international series games were in London, England.
