Forget the beer and brats, the Detroit Lions are in for some good ol’ Kansas City barbecue this fall.
The NFL announced its five-game international schedule Wednesday, including a Kansas City Chiefs home game against the Miami Dolphins in Frankfurt, Germany, Nov. 5.
The Lions were one of a handful of possible opponents for the Chiefs’ international game, and team president Rod Wood said in February he was open to making the trip so the organization could delay having to give up a home game until later this decade.
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Every NFL team must give up one home date every 10 years, in a season its scheduled to host nine games, to play internationally. NFC teams have an extra home game on the league’s current 17-game schedule in even-numbered years.
The Lions have never given up a home game to play overseas.
“Selfishly, I’d rather not give up a home game while we’re kind of on this upward trajectory,” Wood told the Free Press in February. “Every 10 years you have to give up one of your nine, so I’m hoping that doesn’t happen in (2024). I would rather have it be ’26 or later. If playing internationally this year buys us a year off that, that’d be OK.”
Rather than face the Chiefs overseas, the Lions will visit Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, one of the toughest venues for road teams in the NFL. The Chiefs are 14-3 in home games the past two seasons, and Patrick Mahomes has won 16 straight regular season games against NFC opponents.
The Lions have not played at Arrowhead since Dec. 14, 2003.
They have not played internationally since 2015, when they lost to the Chiefs, 45-10, at London’s Wembley Stadium in a game that changed the trajectory of the franchise.
Embarrassed by her team’s poor showing, then-Lions owner Martha Ford fired general manager Martin Mayhew and president Tom Lewand after returning to the United States.
The Lions then hired Wood as team president, but have languished in a state of mediocrity for years. They finally appear to be on the verge of breaking out of this season.
Coming off a 9-8 season, the Lions are the favorites to win the NFC North, and should have multiple primetime games when the full schedule is announced Thursday.
Along with the Chiefs-Dolphins game, the New England Patriots will play the Indianapolis Colts in Germany on Nov. 12, and the NFL will host three games in London this fall: The Atlanta Falcons against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Oct. 1, the Jaguars against the Buffalo Bills on Oct. 8, and the Baltimore Ravens against the Tennessee Titans on Oct. 15.
The NFL is scheduled to announce select primetime games later Wednesday.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.