As nationwide protests continue across France, raising security concerns, the NFL says its first regular-season game in Paris on Sunday is still planning to be staged.When the New Orleans Saints arrived in France following their win Sunday against the New York Giants, and the Pittsburgh Steelers arrived Thursday, they came to a country that has been roiled by protests since early October over high cost of living and deteriorating conditions in the country’s schools.French officials have said the unrest has led to thousands of arrests.
The French government estimated that some 550,000 people took part in demonstrations last Saturday and curfew have been put in place in some parts of Paris.Though much of the protests have been peaceful, some have turned violent as masked looters mixed with riot police.
In one instance the mayor of the Parisian suburb Saint-Denis, the site of Stade de France where the Steelers-Saints game will be held, stood between police officers and protestors.A league spokesman wrote Wednesday that “preparations continue as scheduled.”The security and events team the league uses to host events such as the Super Bowl are also staging this international game inside Stade de France, the spokesman added, and that “there’s been no disruption or impact at league sites.” The NFL has moved the locations of some games due to natural disasters, such as a Los Angeles Rams game in January 2025, as wildfires raged across Southern California.
Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s executive vice president of club business, international and league events, told reporters after league owners’ meetings Tuesday that no such discussions had taken place in this case.“We have never been close to that point,” O’Reilly said.“We’ve always got contingency plans for every game, every single one of them.
But no, we were not at that point at any point in the conversation.”O’Reilly said that officials from the league including Cathy Lanier, the NFL Chief...