Here are several reasons Miami Dolphins could be headed to play in Madrid in 2025
The Dolphins aren't scheduled to travel out of the country in 2024, but there’s a good possibility they will be in 2025, to a place the NFL has never been to before.
The NFL announced Friday that it will play a 2025 regular-season game in Madrid. The groundbreaking game will be at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, home of Real Madrid and former stomping grounds for Cristiano Ronaldo.
A league source said the Dolphins could be in play for that game, or one in Brazil. The Dolphins have territorial rights to Brazil, but the league announced this week that the Philadelphia Eagles will be the designated team to play there in 2024. Their opponent hasn’t been announced.
But the Dolphins and Chicago Bears also have international marketing rights in Spain as part of the NFL's Global Markets Program, which grants rights to clubs in markets outside of the U.S. to build brand awareness.
“Playing a game in Madrid in 2025 highlights the continued expansion of the league's global footprint and the accelerated ambitions to take our game to more fans around the world," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said.
Stephen Ross, Miami Dolphins have connections with Real Madrid
The Dolphins already have connections at Real Madrid. Owner Stephen Ross and Vice Chairman Tom Garfinkel cultivated that relationship and scored a coup in 2017 by arranging a preseason friendly pitting Real Madrid against Lionel Messi and Barcelona at a sold-out Hard Rock Stadium. It marked only the second time an El Clasico, as the fierce rivalry is known worldwide, was held outside of Spain.
Asked in 2017 how he persuaded Barcelona and Real Madrid to come to Miami, Ross said, "We got to know them personally, so they had the confidence in us and we told them we were going to do something really special."
So perhaps next year, the Dolphins will return the favor by visiting the Bernabéau, which seats approximately 85,000.
"The National Football League's arrival at the Santiago Bernabéu is a major event in sport history," Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez said. “This strategic alliance between Real Madrid and an organization of the NFL's prestige will boost our brands globally. It will be enthusiastically welcomed by millions of people on all continents, and it is an honor to embark on this journey together."
Madrid is the first new market confirmed for the 2025 International Games. It will be the fourth European city to hold an NFL regular-season game, joining London, Munich and Frankfurt, where the Dolphins lost to Kansas City in October.
“The arrival of the NFL in Madrid will make us hosts of the most important league in the world,” Madrid Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida said.
More: Watch Messi, Dan Marino, Ted Lasso in Michelob ULTRA Super Bowl 58 commercial
The Eagles being assigned this year’s Brazil game, coupled with other announcements regarding games in London and Munich, all but assures the Dolphins won’t head overseas this season. The only designated international team that Miami will face in 2024 is Jacksonville, but the Dolphins will be the home team vs. the Jaguars, so it will be at Hard Rock Stadium.
The NFL’s 17-game regular season means teams will alternate unbalanced home and away schedules annually, at least until/if the league shifts to an 18-game schedule. In 2024, the Dolphins have eight home games and nine away, so any international game this year would have had to be plucked off the road schedule to avoid restricting Miami season-ticket holders to only seven games.
Next year, when the Dolphins have nine home games, that won’t be a problem.
Giving up one of those home dates also would offer the Dolphins a chance to earn points with the league toward landing a future Super Bowl.
Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at hhabib@pbpost.com. Follow him on social media @gunnerhal. Click here to subscribe.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Dolphins' connections with Real Madrid could mean game in Spain in 2025
