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A16 SPORTS
Friday 20 January 2023
NFL: 5 teams to play home games in Germany, London in 2023

By ROB MAADDI ment. “Our team and our
AP Pro Football Writer fans have had incredible
The Buffalo Bills, Tennessee experiences in London and
Titans, Jacksonville Jag- Mexico City as part of the
uars, Kansas City Chiefs International Series in the
and New England Patriots past, and we look forward
will each play internation- to helping the NFL in its ef-
al games during the NFL’s fort to continue growing
2023 regular season. the game in Germany.”
The Chiefs and Patriots will The Patriots are 3-0 in inter-
play in Germany. The Bills, national games.
Titans and Jaguars will play “We are thrilled to be se-
in London. The Bills and Ti- lected to play in Germany
tans are the designated this year,” Patriots chair-
home teams for two games man and CEO Robert Kraft
at the Tottenham Hotspur said.
Stadium, while the Jaguars “We are undefeated in our
will host a game at Wemb- three previous international
ley Stadium as part of their games, thanks in part to
multi-year commitment to the outstanding support
playing in the United King- from our fans. We know
dom. that some of our most pas-
The league announced the sionate fans reside in Ger-
plans on Thursday. Kansas City Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco (10) struggles for yardage as Las Vegas Raiders many, and we look forward
Opponents, dates and safety Duron Harmon (30) defends during the second half of an NFL football game Saturday, Jan. to finally playing a game
times for the games will 7, 2023, in Las Vegas. there. We know the fans
be released when the full Associated Press will create an amazing at-
schedule is announced lat- for them to experience the announced later this year. their second games in Lon- mosphere.
er this year. best of the NFL live and it’s The NFL previously con- don. The Bills lost to the Jag- We are sure it will be a
There will be no internation- an opportunity for year- firmed that Munich and uars in London in 2015. The memorable experience
al game in Mexico in 2023 round engagement with Frankfurt will host games in Titans lost to the Chargers and one of the highlights of
due to renovations taking the fans there. There’s noth- Germany over the next four there in 2018. The Jaguars the 2023 season.”
place in Estadio Azteca in ing bigger and better than years. will play their 10th game in The NFL’s expansion to
Mexico City. an NFL game and those The Chiefs and Patriots are London. The Chiefs, Bills and 17 regular-season games
“We have a long history teams to be there in those part of the league’s Inter- Jaguars are playing AFC di- gives teams a ninth home
and we continue to grow markets and putting it on in national Home Marketing visional playoff games this game in alternating sea-
but these international a stadium.” Area program, which sees weekend. sons. Up to four of the
games are pivotal,” NFL ex- The Tampa Bay Bucca- teams secure international “We could not be more teams from the conference
ecutive Peter O’Reilly told neers defeated the Seattle marketing rights in coun- excited to participate in a whose teams are eligible
the AP. “Those who have Seahawks in Munich in the tries beyond the United Germany game and intro- for that ninth regular-sea-
been there and experi- NFL’s first regular-season State, with both sides hav- duce more of the world to son home game are desig-
enced it, you just see the game in Germany this sea- ing been awarded rights in Chiefs Kingdom this fall,” nated to play a neutral-site
passion of the fans in these son. The destination cities Germany. Chiefs chairman and CEO international game each
markets. This is the chance for the 2023 games will be The Bills and Titans will play Clark Hunt said in a state- year. q

Antetokounmpo passes Durant for East All-Star voting lead

By TIM REYNOLDS PARIS (AP) — Milwaukee’s has passed Brooklyn’s Kev- ing vote-getters from the chosen as starters, with the
AP Basketball Writer Giannis Antetokounmpo in Durant for the All-Star Eastern and Western con- leading overall vote-get-
Game voting lead among ferences get to pick their ters from each conference
Eastern Conference play- rosters from the other selec- serving as captains and
ers, now putting him on tions. James’ teams are 5-0 choosing their teams.
track to be a captain for in All-Star games when he is James tops the list of West
the Feb. 19 game in Salt a captain. frontcourt players. Denver’s
Lake City. Durant who was the vot- Nikola Jokic remained in
Antetokounmpo had ing leader from the East at second (4,718,218) and the
5,970,196 votes entering each of the first two ballot- Lakers’ Anthony Davis re-
Thursday, the NBA said in ing updates this year, but mained third (3,838,171).
the third update of the has been sidelined of late Antetokounmpo leap-
All-Star balloting. Durant is with a sprained knee liga- frogged Durant among
132,014 votes behind, with ment has been the cap- East frontcourt balloting,
5,838,182. tain as the East’s voting and Boston’s Jayson Ta-
LeBron James of the Los leader in each of the past tum stretched his lead over
Angeles Lakers remains the two years. Antetokounmpo Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid
overall voting leader, with was in the previous two for the third spot in the
Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) drives
against Atlanta Hawks’ De’Andre Hunter (12) and Dejounte 6,506,682 votes. James has years, 2019 and 2020. voting among those play-
Murray (5) during the first half of an NBA basketball game been a captain in all five of The top three frontcourt ers. Tatum had 4,521,414
Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023, in Atlanta. the NBA’s previous uses of players and top two guards votes, while Embiid had
Associated Press the format where the lead- in each conference will be 4,318,035.q