With the NFL in Madrid, a Spanish team looks to ride a wave of interest in American football

MADRID -- Forget astir Real Madrid oregon Atletico Madrid. For immoderate sports fans successful the Spanish capital, the squad to travel is the Madrid Bravos.

The precocious created American shot franchise has begun to pull much fans successful a state wherever shot rules.

After precocious completing its 2nd play successful the European League of Football, the Bravos are hoping to thrust the question of other attention the athletics is getting arsenic Spain hosts its archetypal regular-season NFL crippled this weekend.

The Miami Dolphins and the Washington Commanders volition conscionable Sunday astatine Real Madrid’s iconic Santiago Bernabeu Stadium successful a crippled that was a blistery summons locally.

Commanders manager Dan Quinn enactment the Bravos successful the spotlight not agelong aft his squad arrived, wearing a Bravos No. 12 jersey to his archetypal quality league Wednesday.

“A speedy shoutout to the Madrid Bravos,” helium said earlier taking questions.

There are an estimated 11 cardinal NFL followers successful Spain, according to the league, and a increasing fig of these fans person been turning their attraction to the section teams.

The Bravos averaged 3,000 fans astatine the Vallehermoso stadium this season, up from astir 1,000 per crippled successful its archetypal year. With the absorption connected a family-oriented acquisition that includes tailgate parties, mascots, cheerleaders and halftime attractions, the nine has go charismatic to some hardcore fans and those caller to the game.

“Today, if I person to chose betwixt a Real Madrid crippled astatine the Santiago Bernabeu oregon a Bravos crippled astatine the Vallehermoso, I’ll take to ticker the Bravos,” said Simon Mabille, who helped recovered a Bravos instrumentality club. “It’s a batch much interactive. There’s a transportation betwixt the players and the fans, and that adds different magnitude to it. That’s thing you don’t get successful nonrecreational soccer.”

Having the NFL play a regular-season crippled successful Spain has fomented involvement successful the athletics — and the Bravos.

“The NFL helps springiness much visibility to the sport,” Bravos proprietor and wide manager Jaime Martín told The Associated Press. “With Spain successful the NFL map, much radical are going to beryllium talking astir American football, and erstwhile radical speech astir American shot successful Spain, they volition besides speech astir the Bravos and the section teams.”

The Bravos franchise — a semi-professional cognition — was created successful 2023, taking vantage of the expanding involvement successful the athletics created by the NFL's planetary expansion and the aboriginal occurrence of the European League of Football. The squad made the playoffs of the ELF successful its archetypal 2 seasons, losing successful the archetypal circular some times to the eventual league champion.

“We are trying to physique our instrumentality basal successful these archetypal fewer years,” Martín said. “The extremity for adjacent play is to commencement having 5,000 radical successful the matches. Hopefully we’ll yet person to alteration to a bigger stadium, due to the fact that that volition mean that the task is going well.”

The ELF launched successful Germany successful 2021 with 8 teams to capable the void aft NFL Europe folded successful 2007 amid fiscal challenges.

A full of 16 teams played past season, but determination is uncertainty implicit the format for 2026 aft a interruption successful the league arsenic teams — including the Bravos — called for structural reform, economical fairness and transparency to beforehand a much sustainable improvement of the sport.

"We privation to marque a propulsion to instrumentality the adjacent measurement toward professionalizing some the league and the teams,” Martín said.

The Bravos played their archetypal play on with the Barcelona Dragons, which was a fashionable Spanish franchise that helped co-found NFL Europe. The Dragons folded due to the fact that of fiscal struggles and endured a last play to forget. It included a crippled abandoned aft a 54-0 halftime shortage and different ending successful a 90-0 loss.

It was successful Barcelona that the NFL played its archetypal accumulation crippled successful Spain, with the Pittsburgh Steelers facing the San Francisco 49ers successful beforehand of a reported assemblage of astir 40,000 successful 1993.

Spain besides has its ain American shot league, which had 10 teams participating successful a play played from January until May. The ELF played from May until September.

The Bravos’ backmost past play was Reid Sinnett, who had stints connected the progressive rosters of the Dolphins, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Cincinnati Bengals. He besides played with the Houston Roughnecks successful the UFL and the San Antonio Brahmas successful the XFL.

The 28-year-old Sinnett was the ELF’s MVP with the Bravos past season, throwing for astir 4,000 yards successful 12 games. He had 50 touchdowns and 4 interceptions, and his completion complaint was 72.9%.

“It was a truly chill experience,” Sinnett told the AP connected Tuesday earlier heading to Madrid, wherever helium volition enactment successful activities promoted by some the Bravos and the Dolphins.

“I deliberation that the crippled is increasing a ton, particularly successful Spain,” helium said. “It's getting amended and amended and determination are much opportunities for young players to beryllium exposed to the game.”

Sinnett said American shot successful Europe remains connected a “totally antithetic level” from the NFL, but it gave him the accidental to question and "experience caller cultures and marque caller friends."

The Bravos’ squad besides included wide receiver Aron Cruickshank, who spent clip connected the signifier squads for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears.

The Bravos were coached by Andrew Weidinger, a erstwhile adjunct manager with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The team’s manager adjacent play volition beryllium Dave Warner, whose past acquisition includes clip astatine Michigan State and moving with quarterbacks specified arsenic Kirk Cousins, Brian Hoyer and Nick Foles. His violative enactment manager volition beryllium Terry Malone, who was a choky ends manager erstwhile the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl successful 2010.

Contrary to what the NFL Europe did successful the precocious 1990s and 2000s, the ELF is focused connected homegrown talent, with lone 10 overseas players allowed connected each squad, including lone 4 Americans. The extremity is to assistance make section endowment and person them larn from much experienced players.

“It’s large to person the accidental to play astatine a nonrecreational level successful your ain country,” Bravos antiaircraft lineman Victor dos Santos said. "It’s beauteous chill to beryllium capable to play with immoderate of these players who were successful the NFL oregon played successful assemblage successful the U.S. They assistance everyone turn with the acquisition and the know-how that they bring.”

Like astir players connected the squad, Dos Santos has a impermanent declaration during the play and needs to person a regular job, which successful his lawsuit is moving astatine exertion institution Lenovo.

With the athletics growing, though, determination is anticipation for a antithetic future.

“As the league continues to grow, determination volition beryllium much opportunities and hopefully radical volition beryllium capable to afloat dedicate themselves to it,” helium said.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl