NFL in Paris 'all systems go' despite riots in France

The NFL says it is "all systems go" as it prepares to make its historic debut in Paris on Sunday amid ongoing riots around the French capital. 

New Orleans Saints will serve as the designated home team when they honour their French ties against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the nation's first regular-season game at Stade de France, live on Sky Sports NFL from 1pm.

It comes after civil unrest broke out across Paris over the weekend as peaceful protests were overshadowed by masked activists and vandals turning to violence and looting.

Brett Gosper, the NFL's head of Europe and Asia-Pacific, said the league is prioritising the safety of fans and the two travelling teams, but envisions no disruption to the game.

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"It hasn't impacted it, but obviously we're keeping a good eye on that and we're in very constant daily contact with the French authorities on it," Gosper told Sky Sports.

"We're not seeing our events being disrupted at this point in time and we certainly don't feel the game will be disrupted. So we're all systems go on the game for this Sunday."

Saints tight end Juwan Johnson this week said some family members were undecided as to whether they would make the trip to Paris, while Steelers safety Jaquan Brisker described the scenes in France as "crazy".

"Obviously, safety of fans and players is the high priority, and we're not going to put anyone at risk in that sense, which is why the information we're getting is very important," Gosper added. "And for the moment, it's indicating that things are good for us to go into this game in the right way."

French connection

New Orleans' connection to France dates back to 1718 when the city was founded by the French as La Nouvelle-Orléans, before becoming the capital of French Louisiana in 1722. It was two French engineers who would lay out the first 66 squares of a walled village that later became the iconic French Quarter.

The city would preserve its French DNA throughout 40 years of Spanish rule, teaching in French and adopting French culture. Even today New Orleans celebrates Bastille Day in honour of its French roots.

"There's a great alignment of culture and history between the Saints hosting a game here in the French market, for sure," said Gosper. "It's something that's not gone unnoticed by the French public. At every level, they know that connection.

"It's not like you have to be a history buff in France to understand that connection. It's understood and it's great for the Saints. They're the only team at the moment operating in the global market program, for the moment that makes them the team of France or the French team.

"It definitely creates a stronger engagement with the population of France and a likelihood that many people adopt the Saints as their club. We know that fans can be fans of the NFL, but really avid, passionate fans like to choose a team, so that's the role the Saints are playing at the moment in transforming those NFL fans into loyal club fans for the Saints."

As the Saints amplify their French ties, the NFL is too tasked with translating a French Quarter Mardis Gras-enthused feel to the gameweek. It may not quite be Bourbon Street but NOLA is coming to town.

"We'll see lots of touches of Louisiana and the Saints in the stadium, there'll also be a lot of other ceremonial activities put on by the league to underline the fact that this is a special first game in France," said Gosper. "These games, although they look very much like NFL games and mini Super Bowls in each market, they have their own personality because of what the local fans bring to the picture.

"Melbourne's not the same as Munich, which won't be the same as Paris, which is not the same as London. They're all special for different reasons of personality that the local fans bring to these games."

The NBA has been a familiar feature to the French sporting landscape having played five regular-season games in Paris since 2020, with two more scheduled across 2027 and 2028.

It is now the turn of the NFL to test its newest market amid a record nine international games being played in 2026, Paris joining Melbourne and Rio de Janeiro as debut host cities.

"What's good is we know that the French love all of their sports," said Gosper. "They love their rugby, they love their basketball, they love their football. There's room for the NFL as well.

"The French embrace all sports, American sports, local sports, and they get very passionate about it, and that gives us comfort and optimism for the future that we'll have here."

What next for the NFL globally?

It arrives on the back of three straight UK games held across Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Wembley, the latter two of which were decided by last-second field goals in two of the NFL's greatest international match-ups.

"It's been magnificent," said Gosper. "The UK games themselves have been terrific, but I would say the impact of the NFL in London over that period couldn't go unnoticed.

"We probably had more impact this year than we've had in recent years, and there'll be more of that again next year. London really does embrace the NFL."

Dublin does not feature as part of this year's international schedule after making history in 2025 when the Steelers faced the Minnesota Vikings at Croke Park, but is expected to return as a host.

"We can't announce any of our programme for next year yet, but generally speaking we don't just go and play a game in a market and not come back," said Gosper.

"There'd be optimism that sometime in the near future Dublin will be back on our radar. I guess that's the good news in a Dublin sense.

"And similarly in France, we'd love to come back here at some point. That decision's not been made either. These are markets that we're here to develop over a medium and long term, and we don't just want to play a game and disappear.

"We've looked at a number of international markets, we've determined that there's about 12 markets of high interest to us on a number of criteria. The size of sport fans within the overall population, the number of fans we've got, but also where we see potential broadcast revenues over time and commercial revenues over time. At some point our investment has to pay back, so that's an important criteria as well. We kind of know those markets that are of interest to the NFL."

Gosper added the NFL is in conversations with markets in Asia over prospective games as the league explores the task of building an audience in the face of challenging time zones.

For now, the immediate focus is Paris, where Gosper will return to a familiar stomping ground in the Stade de France following his days as chief executive of World Rugby.

"I was there when France won the World Cup in 1998. That's how long I go back," he said. "I was actually in the stadium that day and how that transformed France's idea of itself as a footballing nation.

"Obviously, there's been Rugby World Cups and Olympics there since, so some major events. It'll be fantastic to see the NFL hosting a game there as well.

"It's the missing element that the Stade de France has not done yet. Great for Stade de France's history and great for the NFL's history.

"It's very special for us all to be involved in a first like this and bringing it to a big market. This game will reverberate wider than France itself."

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