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PARIS — The NFL closed its “NFL House” in Paris on Saturday as the city braced for street protests with a heavy police presence and storefronts boarded up.
The league announced the closure to fans on Saturday morning through its “OnePass” app and it came a day after it said its pop-up NFL shop would also be shut Saturday — in both cases citing “potential accessibility issues.”
Security concerns have overshadowed the NFL’s debut in Paris. The New Orleans Saints will play the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday at Stade de France in the league’s first-ever regular-season game in France.
Also Saturday, the Saints announced that “ Saints House has been postponed until Sunday.”
Events planned Saturday at NFL House included “French Athletes in Football” and “From the Field to the Community.”
“I was looking forward to just checking out some of the installations they had — they were going to have the Lombardi Trophy,” fan Nick Paiva said.
Museums closed
Major museums including the Louvre and Orsay Museum are closed Saturday, though tourists were lined up to enter Notre Dame Cathedral. French authorities are intent on preventing a repeat of recent violent unrest.
More coverage of the riots plaguing France’s streets
- Paris to shut down the Louvre, other tourist attractions over fears of violent Saturday protests
- French leftists plan major Paris protest Saturday as absent Macron vows no repeat to riots
- French Apple store looters get unpleasant surprise on stolen iPhones: ‘Disabled and being tracked’
- Anarchy in France: Behind the riots and violent protests
The U.S. State Department this week issued a security alert that cautioned “Americans in Paris for the NFL game” to “exercise caution and be aware of their surroundings” because of protests.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said this week that preparations were made in consultation with U.S. and French authorities. Street protests, he said, “are not unusual in France.”
On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron met with Goodell along with Saints owner Gayle Benson and Steelers owners Art Rooney II at the Élysée Palace to “discuss Sunday’s game and the long-term future of the NFL in Paris.”
The NFL said Friday that its pop-up shop in the city center would be closed Saturday but that fans could use an alternative shop set up at Stade de France, located north of the city in Saint-Denis.
A weekend event for Steelers fans was canceled Thursday because of security concerns.
Fans react in Paris
Paiva, an American who lives in France, wanted to visit NFL House, where his partner, who is French, could learn more about the sport.
He had also expected to participate in the league’s activation called “Hail Mary over the Seine” in which you try to throw a football across the famed waterway, at a location near Notre Dame. Despite having registered, Paiva was told at the site that he needed to also have made a time-slot reservation.
“That was not communicated very well,” he said after being turned away. “C’est comme ca — it’s the way it is.”
French teenager Oskar Le Gall, wearing a Bryce Young jersey, was able to give it a shot. His throw came up a bit short. A worker on the other side stayed busy scooping balls out of the river using a long pole with a net attached.
Le Gall, who is from the Brittany region, said “the atmosphere of the NFL in Paris is amazing,” noting that French sports leagues and teams typically don’t promote themselves that much.
Le Gall and his brother were keeping an eye on the planned path of the protests Saturday.
“It doesn’t feel calm and good to be a tourist in Paris,” he said. “It’s not good for the NFL.”
At one point during the Hail Mary event, 11 national police vans with their emergency lights flashing drove past on the street above as a fan got ready to throw a ball.
Fan groups staying informed
Steelers fan Monika Allen was able to avoid any protests thanks to advice posted on fan-led Facebook groups.
“The fans are doing a good job keeping each other informed of where to be and where not to be,” Allen said by the ‘Hail Mary’ event.
Her cousin, Viktor Toth, was wearing her Terry Bradshaw black-colored Steelers jersey.
“We’re not worried,” she said. “My cousin is Hungarian, so he knows that the protests happen regularly in Paris.”