Tag: international game

Chiefs TE Travis Kelce wants an opportunity to play for an NFL team in London

Kansas City #Chiefs TE Travis Kelce wants an opportunity to play for an NFL team in London | @EdEastonJr

The broad appeal of the NFL internationally has helped build it into the powerhouse league it is today. The Kansas City Chiefs and their larger-than-life stars, including Travis Kelce, have reached fans in many countries, especially London, England.

The latest episode of New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce (Presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment) discussed Travis’ prospects of playing for a London-based NFL team.

“I’m waiting for that team (London) to play for another team other than the Chiefs,” said Kelce. “That’s the only situation is if I get to play abroad.”

The brothers recorded the latest episode from the Passyunk Avenue Bar in London, England. They were recapping their recent trip to London, including attending Taylor Swift’s ‘The Eras Tour’ and meeting the Royal family. Travis believes an NFL franchise could potentially be awarded to London.

“Less than ten years,” said Travis, “I don’t know for a fact it’s London.” Kelce has experience playing football in the UK. In 2015, the Chiefs defeated the Detroit Lions 45-10 at Wembley Stadium. He finished with six catches for 49 yards and a touchdown.

Chiefs 2023 schedule preview, Week 9: Dolphins

In this schedule preview our @Nicolas_Roesch takes an early look at the Kansas City #Chiefs’ Week 9 opponent, the Miami Dolphins.

The Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins will travel to Frankfurt, Germany for a Week 9 international showdown.

The Dolphins were a very streaky team in 2022. After beginning the season with three straight victories they proceeded to lose their next three, then won five in a row, only to lose their next five. Miami capped its season off with a scrappy 11-6 win over the New York Jets, clinching a postseason wildcard spot.

The Dolphins gave a valiant effort in the wildcard round against the Buffalo Bills but fell short by a 34-31 final score. Despite their inconsistencies, the Dolphins established an explosive offense, finishing sixth overall in total yardage and fourth in passing.

Miami re-signed its top two running backs, Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr. in the offseason as well as starting safety DeShon Elliott. They then signed free agent middle linebacker David Long Jr., who will plug right in as a starter. The big offseason move for the Dolphins, however, was trading for All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey.

Unfortunately, Ramsey injured his left meniscus during training camp and will miss a significant portion of the regular season. The Dolphins recently signed veteran cornerback Eli Apple to fill in for Ramsey. They also drafted cornerback Cam Smith who could challenge Apple to be a starter.

Now, let’s take a look at some of the Dolphins’ top players and their outlooks heading into the 2023 NFL season:

Ravens OLB David Ojabo’s expresses his emotions about playing in London in 2023

Ravens outside linebacker David Ojabo expressed his emotions about going back to the United Kingdom to play football in 2023

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The day before the NFL released the full 2023 schedule, the league released the international games and specialty games on Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, and more. One of the international games that was announced was a trip for the Baltimore Ravens to London in Week 6 to play the Tennessee Titans.

Ravens outside linebacker David Ojabo was born in Nigeria, but moved to Scotland when he was a kid, making the trip to London in 2023 all the more special for him. Ojabo was asked about his emotions on playing in London and advice to give his teammates, and expressed plenty of excitement about the development.

“The emotions – God’s plan. It’s just spending [time] back home and being surrounded by my people. I know my people from Scotland are going to come watch. And any advice – just embrace it. It’s a lot different than America. The accent is different; the environment is different. But it’s going to be a blessed experience.”

NFL executive explains why Dolphins-Chiefs game was ideal choice for Germany

An NFL spokesman said the competitive nature of the #Chiefs – #Dolphins matchup factored into the decision to have it played in Germany. | from @TheJohnDillon

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Many Kansas City Chiefs fans looked forward to an Arrowhead Stadium homecoming for Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill in 2023. Their hopes were dashed when the NFL schedule release revealed the league’s decision to send both teams to Germany to play the league’s first international game in Frankfurt.

On a conference call held last week regarding scheduling decisions, the NFL’s vice president of broadcasting, Onnie Bose, made it clear that the competitive nature expected out of the matchup tipped the league’s scale in favor of sending the game to Germany.

“The strength of the Chiefs’ schedule, and how many strong teams are coming into Kansas City this year, it’s a testament and a real benefit to our international teams and the NFL Network that a game like that, as meaningful and as competitive as we expect it to be, can go and be the first game that we play in Frankfurt,” He explained. “It was part of just the opportunity to play that game, that will draw a good audience into that 9:30 A.M. window was there.

“We always have options, there [were] a few other teams that could’ve gone in there, and sure, the Tyreek Hill storyline is something, and we get that, but I think the opportunity to play a meaningful competitive game internationally is really valuable to us.”

Clearly, the league expects the Chiefs’ matchup against Miami to be a barnburner. As much as fans may have hoped to see Hill eat crow in Kansas City, the NFL is more focused on international appeal than offseason storylines in their decision-making relative to the 2023 schedule.

Still, the Chiefs can make Hill look silly on an international stage in the highly anticipated tilt. There is sure to be plenty of trash-talking between Hill and his former teammates ahead of the matchup. The team also should be expected to have extra motivation to win over fans in Germany, where they have been given marketing rights.

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Ravens headed to Tottenham for Week 6 matchup vs. Titans

The Ravens will travel to Tottenham to take on the Tennessee Titans for Week 6 of the 2023 season

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The full 2023 NFL schedule doesn’t get released until Thursday, May 11th, but a surprise was released on Wednesday regarding the Baltimore Ravens. The NFL put out their 2023 international schedule, and Baltimore will be traveling across the pond.

The Ravens will be playing in Tottenham in Week 6 against the Tennessee Titans. The news of the Tottenham game was confirmed by the official Twitter account of the team, and they will hope to wipe away the memories of the only other time the team played abroad.

The one time Baltimore travelled internationally to play was in 2017. They were blown out 44-7 against the Jacksonville Jaguars in a game many would like to forget, so hopefully they’re able to put on a better showing this time around.

Chiefs awarded international marketing rights for Austria, Switzerland

The #Chiefs were awarded marketing rights for Austria and Switzerland on Tuesday as part of the NFL’s effort to expand internationally

The Kansas City Chiefs are set to make a huge impact on the European market for the NFL after being awarded international marketing rights for Austria and Switzerland on Tuesday.

The announcement was made just days before the 2023 NFL draft is set to take place in Kansas City and will have a major effect on the team’s international reach after their Super Bowl championship in February.

Chiefs president Mark Donovan issued a statement in the team’s release about the new rights, noting that Kansas City is primed to do big things in the international market in the coming years.

“We have committed a lot of energy and effort into growing the Chiefs brand – as well as helping grow the NFL – internationally, and today’s development is going to continue to allow us to invest in European markets,” Donovan explained in his statement.

“The game this season in Germany, much like our games in London and Mexico City, will create amazing opportunities for our fans. Given our history, we think we’re uniquely positioned to take advantage of these expanded commercial and fan development rights in Austria and Switzerland, and we can’t wait to get started.”

The league’s decision to give the Super Bowl champions rights to an expanded market in Europe is a no-brainer, especially given that the Chiefs are already heavily involved in the international marketing program. In 2021, Kansas City was awarded rights to Germany and Mexico as part of the NFL’s initial expansion into markets outside of the United States, and the team is set to play its first game in Munich this season against the Chicago Bears.

Whether games will be played in Austria or Switzerland in the coming years is unknown at this point, but the sheer volume of potential fans in the Chiefs’ new sphere of influence should help the team gain traction across the pond.

Pete Carroll, Seahawks are ‘wide open’ to another international game

Despite the loss to the Buccaneers in Munich, Germany, Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks are “wide open” to another international game.

The Seattle Seahawks might have lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Germany on Sunday but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t do the whole thing over again.

“If the league gives us a chance to do it, we’ll be wide open for it,” coach Pete Carroll said after the game. “This was a great event for us. Having it come the week before the bye is really valuable. It’s a total different experience if you didn’t have that. I wouldn’t want to do that if it wasn’t with the bye. But it’s just competitively such a challenge.

“Yeah, we’re wide open.”

Week 10 at Allianz Arena in Munich marked the first regular-season game for the NFL and the Seahawks, but it wasn’t Seattle’s first international matchup. The Seahawks had squared off against the Raiders in London in 2018 and experienced similar hospitality.

“I would love for us to be able to extend the relationship with the fans here in Germany, they were great to us,” Carroll continued. “It’s just as classy as it could possibly be. Everything about it was first class. Let me say this. We were with a lot of people that were part of the group moving us around, security people and all that. The kindness was obvious. People were so good to us and so thoughtful and ahead of everything and really made this a really wonderful trip.”

Carroll and his Seahawks should have plenty of time to catch up on some well-deserved sleep over the bye week.

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Broncos’ next international game will likely be played in Mexico

Denver will face the Jaguars in London this week. After that, the Broncos’ next international game will likely be played in Mexico.

After hosting the New York Jets at Empower Field at Mile High in Week 7, the Denver Broncos are now set to catch a flight to England to face the Jacksonville Jaguars in London in Week 8.

After facing the Jaguars at Wembley Stadium, the Broncos will play at least one more international game sometime between 2023 and 2028 (all NFL teams are required to play at least one international game every eight years).

The most likely location for Denver’s next international game after London is Mexico, which is the team’s new International Home Market Area.

The NFL announced last year that “the league will use its best efforts to ensure clubs play their international games in their international HMAs, where possible.” So, if possible, the Broncos’ next international game will be played in Mexico.

Eight other teams have Mexico as their HMA: the Arizona Cardinals, Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers.

Sometime between now and 2028, Denver will likely play one of those teams in Mexico City.

Broncos vs. Jaguars live in London! Join ESPN+ to watch!

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NFL will not play international games in 2020

The NFL will release their full schedule later this week, but they have officially cancelled all of their international games for 2020.

The NFL is planning to release the preseason and regular season schedules by Friday, May 9, but the schedule will not consist of any international games this year.

“After considerable analysis, we believe the decision to play all our games domestically this season is the right one for our players, our clubs, and all our fans in the US, Mexico and UK,” said NFL Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy & Growth Officer Christopher Halpin in a press release. “We greatly appreciate the support of our governmental and stadium partners in Mexico and the United Kingdom, who all agree with this decision, and we look forward to returning for games in both countries in the 2021 season.”

The NFL has held at least one game abroad every season since 2007, but the global pandemic shifted the league’s priority to safety rather than the financial gain of playing in an international market.

The Seahawks were not confirmed to be playing internationally in 2020, although the Falcons and Cardinals were slated to host games in London and Mexico City, respectively, two opponents Seattle could easily have been scheduled to play abroad.

The Seahawks played abroad in 2018, when they faced the Raiders in London’s Wembley Stadium and won handily by a score of 27-3.

It was their first, and to date only, game outside of the United States.

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Could Seahawks face Cardinals in Mexico City this season?

The Seattle Seahawks are one of a number of teams who could face the Arizona Cardinals in Mexico City in the 2020 regular season.

The NFL has announced the Arizona Cardinals are the home team for this year’s game in Mexico City, marking the fifth regular-season game played at Estadio Azteca.

The Cardinals last played in Mexico 15 years ago when they squared off against the 49ers.

“​We are incredibly excited to be returning to Estadio Azteca where we had such a positive experience in 2005,” Cardinals Chairman and President Michael Bidwell said via the press release. “The Cardinals are very appreciative of the support we receive from fans in Mexico and look forward to a tremendous experience.”​

The league did not announce any additional details about the game, including naming the visiting team, the date or kickoff time.

As one of the teams in the league who face Arizona on the road, the Seahawks could possibly be the mystery opponent in question. The Cardinals’ other possible away opponents in Mexico are the Eagles, Redskins, Bills, Rams and 49ers.

Stay tuned for further details as they become available.

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