How Prince Albert could help bring NFL to Paris and Monaco

NFL 2025 season: Week 13

Sao Paulo, London, Berlin, Madrid – some of the world’s biggest cities have showcased the NFL this season.

Paris could soon follow as the Stade de France is bidding to become Europe’s newest host for a regular-season game.

If the French capital is awarded a game in 2026 or 2027, the New Orleans Saints have said they want to play in it.

But, as the NFL’s international expansion continues, it could be heading to an even more glamourous location.

The NFL launched its global markets programme in 2022, giving teams marketing rights outside the US, and the only region the Saints have ventured into is France.

Given the country’s cultural and historical links with New Orleans, Greg Bensel, a senior vice-president with the Saints, told BBC Sport that “it was a natural market for us to go grab”.

The Saints are the only NFL team with marketing rights in France, so set about building business and community links virtually from scratch.

They reached out to the respective ambassadors before looking at “what they have established on the tackle football front”, and learned about the Paris Musketeers.

Owned by an American trio, the team started playing in the European League of Football in 2023. Led by former NFL head coach Jack del Rio, the Musketeers feature mainly French players and in May they and the Saints announced a strategic partnership that will include joint initiatives in New Orleans and Paris.

While building contacts in France some mutual friends introduced the Saints to the Prince of Monaco, Albert II.

Not only is he the son of Oscar winner Grace Kelly, who left behind a Hollywood movie career to marry his father Prince Rainier III, but Albert is a keen sportsman and competed at five Winter Olympics for Monaco in bobsleigh.

He was a guest of the Saints at this year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans so, when Donald Trump became the first sitting US president to attend the NFL’s championship game, Prince Albert was sat immediately behind him.

His most recent visit to his mother’s native Philadelphia was in 2023 and, while in New Orleans in February, he wore an Eagles cap during a tour of the city.

“He loves the American lifestyle and sports,” said Bensel. “He loves the NFL, he loves the Saints and the city of New Orleans and he’s like ‘what can I do to help and be a part of this?'”

Prince Albert invited Bensel and Saints owner Gayle Benson to the prestigious Red Cross gala in Monaco in July, where they discussed having an off-season mini-camp in the principality.

They typically take place in May or June, and the most likely venue would be AS Monaco’s football stadium.

“We got a chance to spend some time with Charles Leclerc and other influential Monegasque folk,” Bensel added. “We’ve been welcomed with open arms, in Paris and Monaco.

“Mrs Benson has struck up a wonderful relationship with Prince Albert and she’s gone to visit him a number of times.

Holding a training camp in Monaco would certainly help boost the Saints’ profile in France before a potential game in Paris.

The NFL has carried out a site visit of the Stade de France and is set to announce its next international games.

“We are fully supportive of that bid and would like to play in that game,” said Bensel. “If we get a game in 2026 or 2027, we’d love to do a large run-up to that.

“But we’ve done enough legwork in the market so that we can hit the go button and be prepared.”

The Saints are in talks with the French Federation of American Football (FFFA) and plan to implement school flag football programmes in five or six cities across France, plus a league structure, before any Paris game.

Benson also own the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans, so the Saints’ leadership group already has some media partners in France and know that “the NBA is more prominent than the NFL”.

“We did it with eyes wide open,” added Bensel. “In the United Kingdom and Germany, they love the NFL. In France, not as much. We entered the market knowing that.”

The NFL is also discussing potential games in the Middle East and Asia, while Ireland and Spain staged their first games this season.

Brett Gosper, the NFL’s head of Europe & Asia-Pacific, told BBC Sport that the league has “identified 13 markets that are our priority on a number of criteria, and our goal is to invest in those markets because we believe there’s a fanbase. We believe there are partners there that can increase our footprint.”

Gosper said that international games “serve as a lightning rod for new fans in the new markets that we’re expanding into.

“We just want to make sure that all of the elements are lined up for those games to be a success when we enter those markets, and continue to work them with a local presence as we go forward.”

And Gosper provided some positive news for any fans hoping for a Paris game, or a return to Dublin or Madrid.