When Indianapolis Colts kicker Michael Badgley kicked a last-gasp field goal to send Sunday’s NFL match to overtime, the Berlin crowd understood the significance, even if many were watching live for the first time.
The reaction of the 72,203-strong Berlin Olympic Stadium to its first regular season NFL match, between the Colts and the Atlanta Falcons, showed how far the sport has come in Germany since its initial foray into the country at the same venue 35 years ago. The Colts were trailing after a Falcons touchdown and two-point conversion with 1:44 on the clock.
In overtime, Atlanta had the ball first, but Indianapolis won it back, marched up the field and let Jonathan Taylor claim the match 31-25 with his third touchdown.
Photo: AFP
Sunday’s game — the first of three slated for Berlin — was the fifth regular season match in Germany since the first in Munich in 2022. Each sold out well in advance, with the sport now well established on the German sporting landscape.
Having played exhibition games in England and Sweden, the NFL came to Berlin in 1990. Germany was yet to formally reunite, but the fall of the Berlin Wall just nine months earlier meant fans from east and west could attend the game. Sensing an opportunity, the NFL moved the match from Frankfurt to Berlin. While the intentions were noble, the match itself, between the Los Angeles Rams and the Kansas City Chiefs, did not sell out. News reports at the time said the crowd seemed confused by the rules, approaching the match as a foreign curiosity.
The Los Angeles Times said it was “difficult to see why the [teams] are playing an exhibition game here,” adding that “the West German media have been generally disinterested in this American invasion.”
The left-leaning Berlin Tageszeitung said the “biggest attraction” of the match was a prematch concert by Italian tenor Placido Domingo.
Fire jugglers, cheerleaders and frisbee-catching dogs stole the show, the Berlin Tageszeitung said at the time.
On the field, then Rams quarterback Jim Everett threw the first touchdown pass on German soil.
Everett said the fans’ passion for the game was clear early.
“I feel people loved seeing the collisions — and there were no red cards. Legal hits and people loved it,” he said.
The significance of the moment for the visiting players outweighed the NFL’s expansionist ambitions, Everett said.
“The people seemed happy with the country coming together. I will always cherish seeing such a monumental event of a country healing right before my eyes,” he said.
Everett had taken a promotion trip to Germany months earlier, ahead of the match. With much of the physical barrier still standing across the city, the now 62-year-old took a piece of the wall home with him.
“I have a piece of that history on my shelf to this day,” Everett said.
On Sunday, on the 36th anniversary of the fall of the wall, the match between teams from the other side of the world took on a local flavor — unlike in 1990. Perhaps the biggest cheer of the night was for Bjorn Werner, a Berlin-born defensive end who played for the Colts for three seasons.
Prior to Sunday’s match, the NFL unveiled a giant mural to Werner playing alongside a bear, the symbol of the city, in the center of Berlin.
After the Colts scored a touchdown, Hamburg singer HP Baxxter of German band Scooter ran onto the pitch to perform Maria, a song which rings out with every six-pointer at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium. Another player on the field 35 years ago, Rams running back Gaston Green, said the NFL’s international spread had taken him by surprise.
“The growth of the game has been massive,” said Green, who rushed for 115 yards on 21 carries in 1990.
“Where it is today is nothing short of extraordinary, especially when you look at it compared to 35 years ago,” he added. “The NFL is a global sports brand now. I would not be surprised if eventually a Super Bowl was played in another country.”
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