“I knew we had fans in Germany,” he said, “but I didn’t know we had this many.”
Welcome to Novemberfest.
That’s not a real thing, of course. But that’s what the locals have dubbed this weekend’s American football bonanza, centered around Sunday’s game between the Patriots and Lions at Allianz Arena.
The NFL has briefly taken over Bavaria’s soccer-mad area, with Old City packed shoulder to shoulder with fans wearing Patriots and Lions gear, but also the Chiefs and Packers and Buccaneers and Seahawks and pretty much every NFL team.
The league is expanding rapidly with international games, and Germany is arguably its most important market. The first preseason game held in Germany was in 1990, and the NFL estimates the country now has about 20 million football fans, 3.5 million of whom are described as “avid” fans.
Patriots-Lions will be the sixth regular-season game held in Germany over the last five years. In 2023, the Patriots played the Colts in Frankfurt.
The Patriots had an early-mover advantage in Germany. Tom Brady and the Patriots were the NFL’s dominant team in the early 2010s when games first began airing in the country. Plus, they employed Sebastian Vollmer, the first German native to win a Super Bowl, who now is an ambassador of the sport in his native country.
“The Patriots were pretty much on top with Tom Brady. That was the team everybody knew, with Tom Brady, who also everybody knew,” said Patriots practice squad offensive tackle Lorenz Metz, a native of Neuötting, about an hour from Munich.
Rene Zeigert, wearing a Julian Edelman jersey, said he accidentally became a Patriots fan 11 years ago. A native of Berne in northern Germany, Zeigert discovered football at 2 a.m. when he couldn’t sleep and turned on the TV. He happened upon the live broadcast of the first Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl, watched Malcolm Butler intercept Russell Wilson at the goal line, and was hooked.
Now, he watches NFL games at 7 and 10 p.m. on Sundays, and took a five-hour train ride to Munich to watch the Patriots in person. Zeigert’s group includes two Patriots fans, two Packers fans, a Chiefs fan, and a Lions fan.
“I believe five years ago we had one location in Berne where we can watch the Super Bowl,” said Zeigert, 41. “Since then it has grown steady. Now you have many spots you can watch the Super Bowl.”
In 2022, the Patriots were one of four teams granted exclusive marketing rights to Germany by the NFL, along with the Panthers, Buccaneers, and Chiefs. But Germany has turned into a gold rush — 11 teams now claim marketing rights, more than any other country, including the United Kingdom. The Buccaneers even have a year-round bar here, Ned Kelly’s, an Australian-themed pub. The Lions are making great headway thanks to star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, whose German-born mother taught him the language and brought him to Leverkusen during childhood summers.
The Patriots have expanded their marketing rights across the region to include Switzerland and Austria. They also opened their own branded flag football field in Dusseldorf in 2025 as the NFL uses the sport to introduce foreign cultures to the American game.
“Being able to see that was definitely crazy,” said Patriots cornerback Marcus Jones, who was part of the ribbon-cutting ceremony last year. “It was great to see what was going on, and also seeing our logo in the middle of the field, flag football, and bringing the excitement to those kids.”
With the NFL seeking new fans in new overseas markets, the international games become an important marketing tool. Patriots owner Robert Kraft wasn’t able to make this year’s trip due to recent back surgery, but in Frankfurt in 2023 he stressed the importance of playing well.
“I had fans come up on the street to me who had watched Matthew Slater’s dad, Jackie, play here 33 years ago. They remembered plays he had made,” Kraft said then. “So, I used that as an example to speak to the team after practice and say, except for the Super Bowl, I don’t know that there any other games that create the memories that these international games do. … It’s a great chance to make a mark and great memories.”
In that sense, Sunday’s game is an important mulligan for the Patriots, since their Frankfurt experience did not go well. They played horribly in a 10-6 loss to the Colts, dropping to 2-8 in what would be Bill Belichick’s final season.
A win Sunday will go a long way toward the Patriots maintaining their brand dominance in Germany.
“I hope we put on a show because we play good football,” offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said. “I don’t feel any unnecessary pressure to do that, but I hope we play really good, and I hope there’s a lot of oohs and ahhs from the crowd.”
The Patriots’ business side hopes the team can play well for its long-term prospects in an emerging market. The European fans just want to see the Patriots reach 6-4 before the bye week.
“I hope that we will be playing better than the last game, more steady,” Zeigert said, referencing the Patriots’ 45-27 loss to the Packers last week.
Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com.
