The Patriots-Lions Munich game: two teams courting Germany

The basics, in both time zones

It is Week 10 of the NFL season. Kickoff is 9:30 a.m. ET, which is 3:30 p.m. in Munich, and FOX has the broadcast. Detroit is the designated home team, which is why the Patriots list it as a road game.

The league counts it as the sixth regular-season game played in Germany and the third in Munich. The first two Munich games drew big crowds: 69,811 watched Tampa Bay beat Seattle 21-16 in 2022, and 70,132 saw Carolina edge the Giants 20-17 in 2024. It is one of nine international games on the 2026 slate, spread across seven countries.

Why these two clubs

The NFL's Global Markets Program gives individual teams marketing rights in specific countries for terms of at least five years. The Patriots were awarded Germany in December 2021, effective January 1, 2022, which lets them run fan events, sell sponsorships and merchandise, and market themselves there in person and online. The Lions hold rights in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, a group often called DACH, and have since 2024.

New England had a head start that owed a lot to people. The team says it was the first NFL club to publish German-language content, launching German social accounts in 2017, and it credits Sebastian Vollmer, the German-born tackle who won two Super Bowls in New England, and later fullback Jakob Johnson with building the following. When the rights were announced, Robert Kraft said:

Detroit has put in its own work, including back-to-back Thanksgiving watch parties in Cologne. I did not find the league saying it paired these two opponents because of their German rights, so I will not claim that. My honest read is that it is hard to design a better Munich matchup by accident.

There is some history on the Detroit side as well. According to the Lions, the last time they were designated home team for an international game was in 2014 at Wembley Stadium in London, and they beat Atlanta. Twelve years later the passport comes out again, this time with a lion in German colors waiting at the gate.

A homecoming for Amon-Ra St. Brown

The warmest detail belongs to Detroit's receiver. Amon-Ra St. Brown's mother, Miriam, is from Cologne, and when the Lions' Munich game was announced in February 2026 he said:

Patriots fans will be cheering against him that afternoon. Still, it is a nice thing to have in the building.

Unfinished business from Frankfurt

The Patriots' only previous game in Germany was not a showcase. On November 12, 2023, in Frankfurt, they lost 10-6 to Indianapolis. ESPN noted it was the lowest-scoring game of that NFL season, and Jonathan Taylor's first-quarter run was the only touchdown. The first game New England played in its adopted market produced six points. There is room to improve on that, which is the kindest way to put it.

What comes after

The Patriots' bye falls in Week 11, right after Munich, and we set out where that fits in the full 2026 Patriots schedule. Nothing about the Munich kickoff is waiting on flex decisions, unlike the two January dates still waiting on a kickoff.

The kickoff time sums it up. In Foxborough and Detroit it is a breakfast game. In Munich it is 3:30 on a Sunday afternoon, and for the one crowd actually inside the stadium, it is the most normal time in the world.