RTL expert Patrick Esume wants Thomas Müller as co-commentator

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After exactly 206 days, the wait for NFL fans was over on the night of Thursday to Friday: The reigning champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, opened the new football season in a duel with the Baltimore Ravens.

RTL broadcast the match live. Patrick Esume is once again in front of the camera as an expert, he is in his second season with the TV station. He spoke to watson in advance about changes in the new season, the title favorites and footballers in football.

Watson: Jana Wosnitza told us that you want to be closer this season, for example at tailgating. Will we soon see you standing in front of the stadium with an apron and grill tongs?

Patrick Esume: Yes, we’re letting the cat out of the bag: every Sunday at 7 p.m. I’ll be standing at the grill for RTL wearing an apron and grilling neck steaks for the fans. (laughs) No, it won’t happen. But as a team we will be closer to the live action on site.

What does that mean exactly?

Tailgating, fans, conversations on the pitch – this brings us closer to the NFL. This then rubs off on the spectators, who can be much more emotionally involved. And maybe there will be another opportunity to hear something from our German players shortly before kickoff.

Amon-Ra St. Brown would be a nice conversation partner.

To internationalize the NFL, you need role models in the league – look at Amon-Ra St. Brown. It’s a real big deal when the NFL’s briefly highest-paid receiver can answer you in German.

Amon-Ra St. Brown reached the NFL semifinals with the Detroit Lions last season.Image: IMAGO images / USA TODAY Network

As part of the internationalization process, there is regular speculation about a franchise in Europe. When will there be the first NFL team in Europe?

I can’t imagine a whole franchise here.

Why not?

The ELF commissioner in me is coming out. I can see what that would mean. In the NFL, as with us, equal opportunities are extremely important. But how are you going to deal with travel and time differences? And it’s damn hard to convince players to move to London for six months, for example, away from their families. That would be a disadvantage.

How can internationalization be further promoted instead?

I think we will see more International Games. Madrid is coming, Paris will surely follow soon.

Taylor Swift also played a role in internationalization last season.

As long as she is with Travis Kelce, a lot will continue to revolve around her. But maybe even if they split up. In show business, any PR is good PR.

A figurehead of the NFL: Kansas tight end Travis Kelce and pop star Taylor Swift.Image: Getty Images/Patrick Smith

Does the focus on the singer annoy you?

One or two hardliners or purists complain about it, but I think it’s good. Football is a lifestyle, it’s much younger than soccer or handball. The people who move around in the bubble get their information mostly from social media. If all the Swifties watch what the Chiefs are doing, it brings more attention to the NFL, but also to the sport as a whole.

There are many connections to football in your CV, including an internship at HSV. What football job would you have done if you hadn’t ended up in football?

Then I would have become a coach because I wasn’t good enough as a player. That’s what I wanted to do.

What can football learn from football?

Football can learn something from fan culture, because there are two different types of fan culture. On the one hand, we all sit together wearing different jerseys, there are no riots, no police. I think that’s cool about our sport, American football; in football, the riots leave me speechless. On the other hand, there is self-motivated enthusiasm and battle chants. Only football has that. I hope that this enthusiasm from German stadiums will be transferred to football.

RTL is entering the new NFL season with this team.image: RTL / Ruprecht Stempell

Do you already see any approaches to this?

We already had a bit of that with “Sweet Caroline” at NFL games in Germany. The US networks were impressed. The Buccaneers also have it to some extent, but it took time. One or two international games aren’t enough.

What is the lesson for the NFL?

Give your fans freedom, let them organize themselves into fan clubs that are then self-motivated to cheer on their team. Not just when they are asked to do so via the screens.

Let’s stay with the exchange between sports: The NFL is also popular with football players.

Mats Hummels and Leon Goretzka are hard at work there, that’s really cool.

Is there a football player you would like to have on your side during an NFL broadcast?

Thomas Müller, he’s a funny guy. He’s one of the few footballers who has rough edges in interviews. In the NFL you have a lot of characters, in football that’s rarer. But Müller has the necessary sense of humor, that would be a good fit.

Still a footballer by profession, but also with a football in his hand: Thomas Müller.Image: imago images / ActionPictures

And which football player would cut a good figure on the football field?

There are some footballers who could have been good footballers. Leon Goretzka would have been a first-class receiver, Sami Khedira a great safety. And Erling Haaland would probably have worked well in defense.

Back to what is actually happening in the NFL: What exactly are you frustrated about with regard to the new season?

I’m happy that the whole spectacle is starting again. In the offseason there was a lot of madness, drama and the draft. It was a musical chairs situation. I’m excited to see how that translates into performance. There are a lot of storylines, and I’m looking forward to that.

Will the Chiefs have a three-peat this season?

It’s not improbable. If you had asked me a few years ago if anyone could win the Super Bowl three times in a row, I would have said: “Look, Brady is retired now – that’s not going to happen.” But if anyone can do it, it’s Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs haven’t necessarily gotten worse.

Who will be the biggest competitors this season?

The San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens. The Detroit Lions will also be in the mix, having drafted a strong defensive lineman.

Let’s get to the bottom of it: who will win the Super Bowl?

The four semifinalists could be the same as last season, but I’m not going with the Chiefs. Lamar Jackson will now deliver in the playoffs for once in his life and win the Super Bowl with the Ravens.