The NFL Madrid Game and La Liga Miami Game Are Not The Same | OneFootball

Soccer. Football. The Bernabéu has had it all.

At a time in Spain where La Liga games played abroad remain a hotly debated topic (case in point, the proposed Villarreal vs Barcelona in Miami), the National Football League powered into Madrid on November 16th, turning the Bernabéu into a U.S.-style gridiron showcase.

The contest between the Miami Dolphins and Washington Commanders brought American football to Spain for the first time, 18 years after the sport first ventured outside the United States. Which raises the question: how has the NFL’s model of exporting their product succeeded in ways that European domestic fixtures being played abroad couldn’t?

Beyond the States: What the NFL Madrid Game Proved

The NFL Madrid Game was the final fixture of a packed 2025 international schedule. The NFL held earlier games in São Paulo (Brazil), Dublin (Ireland), London (UK), and Berlin (Germany) as part of a seven-game international slate. This was the league’s largest single-season global program to date.

NFL Madrid Game was the last of this season’s international slate. @NFL/X

Germany, in particular, has become a strategic priority with multi-year commitments and repeated fixtures, suggesting a multi-city approach (Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin) to embedding the sport in Europe.

The Miami Dolphins beat the Washington Commanders 16–13 at the Bernabéu in front of 78,610 fans. The match was promoted as a landmark event for the NFL in Iberia and drew heavy local interest, with Spanish soccer personalities in attendance and a halftime show that leaned into American-style spectacle.

That result changed Madrid from an experimental market to an out and out confirmed success. High attendance, high engagement, and production levels on par with London and Berlin cemented its place. Taken together, the NFL’s 2025 slate showed the league combining global reach in South America and Western Europe with repeated investment in key soccer markets like the UK and Germany. Madrid further strengthened the idea of globalization by proving that Spanish fans will show up when a good product is delivered, even if it lies in the capital of European soccer.

Is This Hypocrisy?

Real Madrid’s eagerness and excitement to lend their hallowed Bernabéu for an American domestic league fixture caught the eyes of many, including La Liga president Javier Tebas. Tebas was unvarnished in his criticism:

The Miami match Tebas referenced was a Villarreal–Barcelona fixture that La Liga had scheduled for three weeks prior. This proposed relocation of a La Liga fixture abroad sparked backlash and accusations of selling out. Across the league, teams refused to kick off for 20 seconds in protest until the game was called off, with Real Madrid (and their powerful position in Spanish soccer) leading the charge.

So, is this hypocrisy, or are the situations fundamentally different?

Integrity and Control

Well for starters, renting out the Bernabéu for an American football game is not remotely similar to moving a La Liga game to Miami. The NFL has a long history of hosting games outside the United States and within the league it’s an accepted practice.

Teams travel, but the NFL’s season structure stays the same. The fixture is presented as a standalone spectacle, much like a touring concert. The league retains full control of the event and any commercial gains from broadcasting, sponsorship, etc.

However, moving a La Liga match abroad would fundamentally change the domestic competition:

Domestic soccer leagues are built on home-and-away balance. Fans, clubs and even national authorities view that balance as a core part of fairness. Real Madrid publicly challenged the Miami idea and lodged complaints with sports authorities, arguing the plan gave an unfair advantage to one party, in this case FC Barcelona, as they won’t have to travel to Estadio de la Ceramica in Villarreal for their away fixture but instead play in a neutral ground in a commercially motivated fixture.

Approval layers

A La Liga match in Miami required sign-offs from not just the league and the clubs but national federations. It also had to attain approval from UEFA, FIFA and potentially CONCACAF/US Soccer because it modifies the jurisdiction of a domestic competition. The decision to move the La Liga game to Miami was not even consulted with the rest of the 18 teams in La Liga.

But the NFL does not answer to UEFA/FIFA or any other continental federation; it is a self regulating entity. It negotiates directly with stadiums, local promoters and national authorities about hosting a neutral-site match. That path is legally simpler because it does not change the existing flow of domestic competition or require changing sporting calendars of foreign governing bodies.

Incentives

The NFL Madrid Game 2025 did more for the NFL than a Villarreal-Barca fixture would ever do for La Liga.

For the NFL:

Spain benefits because American football is still a growing sport and could use a new audience. But on the contrary, the USA doesn’t need a Spanish soccer game. Major League Soccer is already an established thing, not to mention soccer’s greatest ever player plays in Miami bringing in a lot of eyeballs already.

Moving a LaLiga fixture abroad:

Even if the league profits, fans and season ticket holders feel the domestic product is being diluted.

Soccer Stars Helped the NFL Expansion

When elite Spanish soccer players show up at an NFL event, mention the league in interviews or engage in public discourse about American football, they offer the league cultural legitimacy.

The league’s research estimated 11 million NFL fans in Spain, an unusually high number for a non-American market.

Antoine Griezmann is the clearest case of a top-level European soccer player who openly follows American football. That makes him a natural cultural bridge for the NFL in Spain. The Atletico Madrid star has already declared his fandom of the NFL and spoken publicly about it. The forward revealed that he is a follower of the league and name-checked top NFL athletes. He attended the NFL game at the Bernabéu in Madrid, and has said publicly that he plays in fantasy NFL leagues. Griezmann has also been vocal about supporting players such as Patrick Mahomes. He has also at times been seen with NFL merch and exchanging jerseys with football players.

@NFL/X.com

Neymar Jr. has also attended NFL events, including the NFL game in São Paulo earlier this year. Moreover, he has interacted publicly with NFL players and officials, which the league used as a headline moment in Brazil. Neymar isn’t a La Liga player now but his global profile shows the value of superstar soccer endorsement for the NFL outside Europe and North America.

Christian Pulisic, unarguably the biggest American soccer star in Europe right now, has publicly exchanged shirts and pleasantries with NFL players (e.g., Brandon McManus in 2017) and has appeared in cross-sport media moments.

Their crossover appeal helped solidify American football as a credible cultural product in Europe.

Not The Same

An NFL game at the Bernabéu and a proposed LaLiga match in Miami may look similar at surface level. Both seek global reach and aim to expand audiences. Both involve exporting sport. But they are structurally, politically, and competitively different.

The NFL exported a standalone spectacle under its control while LaLiga tried to export a fragment of its domestic competition that creates imbalance. As all is said and done, the European capital of soccer hosted its first American football game. An event that reportedly generated $174 million in revenue.

And based on the reception of the NFL Madrid Game 2025, the National Football League will absolutely return to Spain.