Chiefs aren’t a home team in ’22 international games — but could end up playing in one
There is a 22.2% chance the Chiefs will be asked by the NFL to leave the country during the 2022 season.
On Monday, the NFL announced the Arizona Cardinals, Green Bay Packers, Jacksonville Jaguars, New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will play international games in the upcoming season.
The Jaguars, Packers and Saints will play a game in London, while the Cardinals will be in Mexico City and the Buccaneers will call Munich, Germany, home for one game. All five teams are giving up a home game at their stadium to play an international contest.
The list of the Chiefs’ nine road games next season includes Arizona and Tampa Bay.
The reason for a potential Chiefs game against those teams goes beyond mere scheduling.
In December, the NFL announced it had granted marketing rights in eight countries to 18 NFL teams.
Of the five teams given rights to Germany, two are the Chiefs and Buccaneers, which makes it a strong possibility Kansas City would be chosen to face Tampa Bay in Munich. Additionally, there are deep ties between Chiefs CEO and chairman Clark Hunt and the professional soccer team Bayern Munich, whose stadium will be used for the NFL game.
A Chiefs’ trip to Germany could be coming between 2023-25 if they are not chosen to face the Buccaneers this fall.
If they don’t head to Germany, it’s possible the Chiefs will be picked to face Arizona in Mexico City, because Kansas City was one of nine NFL teams granted rights to Mexico. Two other teams that were given marketing rights in Mexico are part of the Cardinals’ home slate of games: the Rams and 49ers.
So it’s no slam-dunk that that Chiefs would be asked to play the Cardinals in Mexico.
The Chiefs last played in an international game in 2019 when they defeated the Chargers 24-17 in Mexico City.
This story was originally published February 28, 2022 at 12:31 PM.
