The NFL’s debut game in France, set for this Sunday between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints, is barreling ahead as planned, even as Paris and the entire country have seen serious civil unrest and over 2,400 arrests nationwide this past weekend. Despite riots over living costs and poor conditions in schools, league officials are staying locked in on keeping the game on schedule. It’s a wild scene over there, and you gotta wonder about the security stakes.
“Extremely Vigilant” Is the Play for Paris Security
Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s executive vice president of club business, international and league events, was crystal clear from league meetings on Tuesday: “All of our plans for the Paris game this weekend are moving forward as planned.” He talked about working super close with Parisian and French authorities, plus the State Department, basically being “extremely vigilant” on an hour by hour basis. They’ve got NFL Senior VP of Security Cathy Lanier, who used to be D.C.’s Chief of Police, on the ground in Paris for about ten days already, getting logistics dialed in. Stade de France, where the game is going down, is no stranger to massive international events, even hosting Olympic Games before.
O’Reilly stressed that security is always tight around their events, and it’ll be “heightened” for this one. They’re confident in their plans from both an operations and security standpoint, making sure team and fan safety is top priority. The league has previously moved domestic games when natural disasters hit, but O’Reilly said that’s not a concern here; they don’t think the game will pull any necessary resources away from the ongoing situation.
Global Ambitions Continue Despite Local Turmoil
The Saints, fresh off their 34-27 win against the New York Giants, already flew from New York to Paris on Sunday night. The Steelers are scheduled to jet out on Thursday, ready for their 4-2 record after beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26-19 in overtime. This game in France marks the third new market the NFL’s hit this season, after playing in Melbourne, Australia and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Remember, they were in São Paolo for two seasons before that.
Overall, the NFL has nine international games this season across Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, London, Paris, Madrid, Munich, and Mexico City. O’Reilly even hinted that they’re looking to push that to ten international games next year, which is the maximum allowed by their current collective bargaining agreement. They’re still eyeing Asia, especially Japan, but haven’t locked anything down there yet. Some countries that hosted games this year are likely getting bids for 2027, possibly even in new cities within those returning countries. It’s a massive global expansion play happening against a seriously tense backdrop this Sunday.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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