Why the Chiefs refuse to play Bears overseas, explained

Here is why the Kansas City Chiefs may not play the Chicago Bears overseas this season.

With the NFL schedule release slated to happen sooner rather than later, we may not get an overseas game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Chicago Bears after all.

There was a report that Kansas City was going to become the Germany equivalent of London’s Finest in the Jacksonville Jaguars. German publication Bild said the Chiefs would play the Bears in Frankfurt this season, as well as the Carolina Panthers next year in 2024 when they are slated to host a home game over there. As it turns out, this does not appear to be true at all, so that’s cool.

NBC Sports’ Peter King threw a bucket of ice water on the idea that Chiefs Kingdom will conquer all of Germany soon. King wrote the following about it in Football Morning in America on Monday.

“When a team gives up one of its home games to play overseas, it has the option of requesting to the league one home game on its schedule the team does not want moved. I’m told Kansas City requested that the Chicago game not be played overseas.”

As far as the Panthers are concerned, why would Carolina want to give up its one chance in eight years for Patrick Mahomes to play in Charlotte? They will want to keep this home game domestic.

NFL rumors: Chicago Bears vs. Kansas City Chiefs game in Germany may be off

I think it is readily apparent that Germany is the next country where the NFL can expand its brand. The product clearly thrives in the United Kingdom, as well as south of the border down in Mexico. Germany may be six hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zone, but games overseas played at soccer stadiums could feel big in the 9:30 a.m. ET window a Sunday or so a year. This will be here to stay.

While I do recognize there is an upside to one team taking up residency overseas like the Jaguars have under Shahid Khan’s ownership, good luck telling Chiefs Kingdom that the Hunt Family would rather play one game a year in Germany instead of getting an eighth or ninth home date at Arrowhead in alternating seasons? Someone may bite at this opportunity, but never the Chiefs…

Ultimately, I think the NFL needs to really look at how to make the 17th regular season game on the schedule an opportunity to expand the league’s brand. This would include playing games internationally, as well as in American cities without a professional franchise. I would never expand the league beyond its 32 current teams, but I think a traveling road show isn’t horrific.

Germany may want the Chiefs, but so would pretty much any non-partisan region in the world.