Uni Bayreuth firmly in football hands

The foyer of the RW1 building at the University of Bayreuth is overcrowded, young men with helmets are strolling around, a football is flying across the room: the picture that presented itself to the 400 or so visitors on Thursday evening will certainly be remembered for a long time. The 1st American Football Summit in Germany not only featured action-packed "try-out" areas, but also many exciting discussion rounds with experts from the German and American football scene.

The 1st American Football Summit was opened by Prof Dr André Meyer, Dean of the Faculty of Law and Economics at the University of Bayreuth, before Phil Funfak (Radio Mainwelle) and Christoph "Icke" Dommisch (ran) took over the moderation of the evening.

Prof Dr Tim Ströbel (University of Bayreuth) explained how the idea for the summit came about together with Prof Dr David Ridpath (Ohio University) and Dr Markus Seufert (University of Bayreuth). "We think that the internationalisation strategy of the NFL and the internationalisation strategy of the Faculty and the University of Bayreuth go well together," he said. David Ridpath, who together with Tim Ströbel also heads the double degree programme of the Sports Economics Bachelor, also emphasised that these study programmes train the future leaders of the sports world.

In the first panel, Andreas Kufner (FC Bayern Munich) and Stefan Heim (1. FC Nuremberg) as well as Dr Alexander Steinforth (NFL Germany) spoke on the topic of "The NFL in Germany". On the one hand, it was explained that the NFL is taking on the expense of staging games abroad because a new market is being opened up here, while on the other, the representatives of the football clubs reported on the potential learning effects. For example, an enormous difference is recognisable when you look at how the American sport markets itself and the events themselves. Stefan Heim from 1. FC Nuremberg also talked about the planning of the new Nuremberg stadium and that questions were naturally being asked about its future use outside of football - use by a football club or even the European Football League or the NFL was not ruled out.

While visitors were able to try their hand at the ball throwing machine and the like in the "Action Break", many of the young fans were given the opportunity to take a photo with Christoph "Icke" Dommisch. "Icke" is one of the best-known football presenters on German television and has already won the German Television Award twice in the "Best Sports Programme" category. From the 2015 NFL season until the 2022 NFL season, Dommisch was the "Netman" for ran Football's NFL broadcasts. The "Action Break" was brought to life by the Bayreuth Dragons and the Nuremberg Rams, among others. From tackling to throwing the ball, there was plenty to try out.

The second panel, which featured Oliver Luck (former NFL Europe President), Paul Tagliabue (former NFL Commissioner) and Andrew Luck (former quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts), focussed on the development of the NFL on an international scale. The students were particularly interested in finding out how fans in the USA deal with games suddenly taking place on another continent.

In the final panel, Oliver Luck, Thomas Krohne (owner of the Munich Ravens), Gülden Hennemann (Franconian Football Initiative), Prof. Dr David Ridpath and Prof. Dr Christian Rückert (University of Bayreuth and himself a former football player) spoke about the future prospects of American football in Germany and especially in Franconia.

Dr Markus Seufert, who was in charge of organising the event, was more than satisfied afterwards: "It's really nice to see how many interested people came to be here at our event."