Report: Lions Will Not Play Chiefs Overseas

The Detroit Lions will not travel to Germany to play the Kansas City Chiefs in 2023.

The Detroit Lions will have the chance to square off with the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs this upcoming season, but it won't be overseas. Instead, the game will take place at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. 

The Chiefs, as a member of the AFC, will get the chance to host nine home games in 2023, and one of those contests will take place on international turf.

For starters, this is because of the fact that the AFC and NFC now alternate each season who gets to host a ninth home game. The NFC did a season ago, so now the AFC gets the right to a ninth home contest in 2023. 

The additional layer to this, though, is that as a part of the NFL's present 17-game schedule format, at least four games will be played internationally each season, under the billing of the league's "International Series."

And, the host teams for such international contests are to be selected from the conference that possesses the ninth home tilt on their schedule. 

Additionally, every NFL franchise has to give up one home game every 10 years for a game played overseas.

Subsequently, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are one of the aforementioned AFC organizations that have been picked to play a home game away from American turf during the 2023 campaign.

In case you were wondering, the Chiefs' international destination for the upcoming season will be Germany, and their opponents will be a rival of the Lions from the NFC North: the Chicago Bears. 

As part of the April 3 episode of the "REKAP Rush Hour," Chicago sports media personality and ESPN 1000 host David Kaplan expressed, "I have learned the Bears and Chiefs are expected to play in Germany next season. So, the Bears and Justin Fields get Patrick Mahomes and the defending Super Bowl champions. Again, they're expected to play next fall in Germany."

Each of the NFC's 16 organizations, including Detroit, will have a ninth home game in 2024. So, the Lions could be on the hook for an "International Series" game, with Dan Campbell's squad serving as the home team.