The NFL goes far beyond the 120 yards (109 meters) of turf that its fields measure, the 53 players on each roster, the dozen coaches analyzing and deciding the tactics for each play, or the hundreds of people working in each organization. Each game of the American grand show brings together more than 17.5 million viewers on television and 70,000 in each stadium. Each one. And many of them, players, staff, and fans, will fly this week from Miami and Washington to Madrid to play and celebrate at the Bernabéu the first NFL game in Spain. Before that, it's time to cross the pond westward to discover from the inside how the great universe, and the great show, of American football is.
EL MUNDO has been able to visit the headquarters of the Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs in recent weeks. The first, located in the south of Florida, will act as the home team this Sunday at the Bernabéu against the Washington Commanders. The second, located at the Missouri stadium, is now the great dynasty of the NFL, has exclusive commercial rights in Spain, and aims to be the next home team in the capital.
"Here the players have everything." The glass doors of the Baptist Health Training Complex in Miami open early in the morning and do not close until night. Not even during vacations, where players, especially rookies, can come for training. The same happens at the University of Kansas Hospital Arrowhead Training Complex of the Chiefs. Both are attached to the main stadiums, Hard Rock in Miami and Arrowhead in Kansas City, forming part of the same facilities. Here is where the first difference with European sports arises, accustomed to having the main stadium in one place and the sports city in another.
Inside, the hallways of both buildings offer a sports universe at all levels. The jerseys of the most important players in the history of both franchises rule the entrance, leading to a giant hallway with rooms for everything. 'Quarterbacks', 'defensive line', 'offensive line', 'receivers'... Each position on the field has its own video room where the assistant coach provides the keys for the next game.
Moving forward, two giant dining rooms appear where they have breakfast and lunch, with up to 10 screens showing all the ongoing sports events. On the other side, the gym, immense for the 53 players and those part of the 'training team', a dozen young individuals trying each week to make it to the main roster. Dumbbells, sleds, punching bags... Next to them, the pools, four in the case of the Dolphins: two whirlpools, one with a current, and one with a treadmill on the floor. And the recovery one, with hyperbaric chambers or infrared light areas at the Chiefs.
Through another door, you reach the auditorium, where team video meetings are held or where decisions are made for the annual draft picks. Right next to it is the 'players' room', with darts, sofas, giant TVs, and even a barbershop area. "It's like a small city," they admit to this newspaper in the Florida complex.
At the back of both complexes, through a large glass window, you can see the two outdoor turf fields and a giant structure that is the jewel of most NFL franchise sports complexes, including those of Miami and Kansas City: the greenhouse.
It is a covered facility with artificial turf where various types of weather conditions can be simulated to counter the difficulty of some NFL games. You can play one week in Miami with heat and the next week have snow and below-zero temperatures in Kansas City. With "the greenhouse," as they call it, players prepare for it in a league where every detail matters and where Sunday minutes are just the tip of the iceberg each week.
And in those details, the last and most distinctive of American sports is what happens on Sunday. Camping from four in the morning in the field adjacent to the stadium, barbecues for breakfast, and media access after the games that surpass the closed European bubbles. The mixed zone for journalists happens among deodorants and colognes, without prejudices and with freedom. "It's not understood any other way," they admit at the Chiefs. The grand show now arrives at the Bernabéu.