On Wednesday, the National Football League handed out permissions to 18 franchises regarding 26 separate international territories—ranging from Canada and Mexico to China and Australia—in order to expand their marketing reach in myriad ways. Each territory, referred to as a Home Marketing Area (HMA), is a result of an original proposal submitted by the franchise in the first place seeking the rights to market the team in that region.
The Kansas City Chiefs were one of those 18 teams given permission to market and they received the green light in both Mexico and Germany. Some territories were requested by several teams while other territories only have a single franchise pivoted toward them.
For the Chiefs, they are the only team in the AFC West given two territories and the only one focused outside of the Americas in any way. The Denver Broncos and Las Vegas Raiders will both focus on developing their brands in Mexico alongside the Chiefs and a number of other teams. Beyond that, however, those teams failed to gain any further permissions.
The Chiefs were granted permission from the NFL to market the team in Mexico and Germany.
The L.A. Chargers failed to register anything in this year’s announcement of teams. (The NFL will conduct a review on an annual basis as teams submit new international HMA proposals).
These initiatives to market the team can include everything from running youth football camps to in-person events but part of the league’s ongoing commitment to play games outside of the U.S. will also come into play. This means future games played outside the United States by the Chiefs will happen in either Mexico or Germany.
The Chiefs and Chargers played in Mexico City as recently as the 2019 season and, at the time, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt spoke about the importance of international growth for the league. “I think all the international games are important for the league and they’re important for the Chiefs from a branding standpoint,” he said.
Given that they played just two years ago in an international setting, it might be a while before the league asks the Chiefs to travel again. That said, it was the Chargers who gave up a home game in that instance, not K.C. If a trip is set for Germany, the league might want to make sure the Chiefs play the New England Patriots, Carolina Panthers, or Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Each of those franchises was also granted IHMA rights in Germany.