It was a historic event on Sunday afternoon when The NFL played its first-ever American football game on Spanish soil.. The Washington Commanders lost to the Miami Dolphins 16-13 in overtime in front of a packed Bernabeu.
For much of the international break week, Madrid's squares were filled with NFL events and promotions. Antoine Griezmann will take an active part in several of them.. Players such as Diego Simeone and Antonio Rüdiger also showed great interest in the game, with attendance for the game being 78,610, exceeding the Clásico attendance just three weeks earlier.
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Economic impact on Madrid
According to AS DiaryThe Madrid City Council estimated the economic impact for the week to be approximately 170 million euros, of which 21 million euros would come exclusively from bars and restaurants. Tickets for the game were sold at prices ranging from 80 to 5 thousand euros. They say local officials and the NFL, not to mention Real Madrid, considered the event a great success, although on the day of the game the NFL's organization resulted in hour-long lines to enter the stadium and overflowing food and drink stands in the stadium. It is not specified how much Los Blancos earned from the game. The effect was similar to that of other international games in Munich, London and Dublin, which cost around €200 million.
Image via AFP7 via Europa Press
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Guests of Madrid
During the NFL's visit to the Spanish capital, a huge number of Americans arrived in the Spanish capital, many fans flew in from Miami and Washington, as well as an international audience. An estimated 42,000 spectators, or 54%, traveled from abroad to watch the match. The average length of stay in Madrid was about four days.
NFL chief commissioner Roger Goodell said that day that they would “definitely return” to Spain, and there already appears to be a desire to become a permanent fixture on the NFL's international network. Both Atlético Madrid and Barcelona have expressed interest in hosting games at the Metropolitano and Camp Nou stadiums respectively, once renovations at the latter are completed.
