The NFL hasn't officially announced it yet, but the 2023 schedule is expected to be released exactly one week from today on May 11.
With 272 games on the schedule, there's a good chance we're going to see a few leaks over the next week and those leaks appeared to start on Thursday morning with some rumored details about the two games that are being played in Germany this year.
The NFL announced in January that the Chiefs and Patriots would both be "hosting" games in Germany in 2023, but the league didn't offer any other details about the two games. However, a newspaper in Germany (The Bild) just shared a lot of previously unknown information about the games.
Here are the details that have been reported about each game:
- The Patriots will be playing the Saints. If this happens, this would be the Saints second straight trip to Europe. Last season, they played the Vikings in London.
- The Chiefs will be playing the Bears. However, if you're a Bears fan, don't go booking a hotel in Germany just yet. According to Peter King of NBC Sports, any NFL team "hosting" an international game is allowed to request protection for one of game on their schedule -- so that it can be moved overseas -- and the Chiefs apparently requested that with the Bears. So there's certainly a chance that we could end up seeing the Chiefs face a team that's not the Bears.
- Both games will be played at Frankfurt's Deutsche Bank Park, marking the first time in NFL history that Frankfurt has hosted a regular-season game (The Buccaneers-Seahawks game last season, which was the NFL's first regular-season game ever in Germany, was played in Munich).
- The two games will be played in consecutive weeks with the first one coming on Nov. 12 (Week 10) followed by another game on Nov. 19 (One thing that's not clear is which game will be in what slot). Last year's game was played in Week 10, so it wouldn't be a surprise for the NFL to stick with a similar timeline.
- The Chiefs will also be heading to Germany in 2024, and for that game, they're expected to play the Panthers in Munich. Of course, the NFL isn't even done creating the 2023 schedule, so it's certainly no lock that this game is going to happen.
When it comes to the international games, the league has actually already revealed the home teams for all five games this year. On top of the two games in Germany, there will also be three games in London with the Bills, Titans and Jaguars all serving as the home team in those games.
As for the German games, although the report seems pretty solid, nothing is official until the NFL announces it, so don't go booking a flight to Germany just yet if you're a fan of one of the four teams involved in this year's pair of games.