Follow TNT’s Gregg Bell live from Munich as Seahawks make NFL history vs Buccaneers
It’s spieltag.
Guten Morgen from Deutschland. Geno Smith and the Seahawks are on the field ready to play Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first NFL regular-season game in Germany.
The first-ever Seahawks game day in Germany began with fog. Then the sun came out about two hours before kickoff of the first NFL regular-season game in this historic country, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Smith came off being superimposed onto the top of the Olympiaturm tower in Olympiapark Munchen to talk to Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and throw passes in early warmups. He was on the field that is normally the home to FC Bayern Munich about two hours, 45 minutes before the kickoff at 6:30 a.m. Seattle time.
A ticket was going for $1,200 or more for Sunday’s game, the first of the 15-year-old NFL international series of regular-season games to feature two division leaders. Alexander Steinforth head of NFL Germany said this spring three million requests were processed when tickets went on sale for Seahawks-Buccaneers in Munich. Allianz Arena holds 67,000 spectators.
“A staggering number,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said of the three million wanting to get into this game. “I can’t imagine. It’s an honor…we will respect the heck out of every aspect of this.”
The Seahawks players were among the estimated 20,000 Seattle fans who arrived in Munich for the game. They came from Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Denmark and, of course, Washington state.
Follow Gregg Bell from Munich throughout Sunday for The News Tribune’s live updates from Germany here:
