Bienvenue, NFL fans, to a new venue for American football.<\/p>\n
The Stade de France will play host to the league’s first game in France on Sunday, pitting the Pittsburgh Steelers against the New Orleans Saints, who are the sole team to own NFL marketing rights<\/a> in the nation and represent a city with long ties to the country.<\/p>\n It was the French who established the city of “La Nouvelle-Orl\u00e9ans” in 1718 — and ultimately sold it, as part of the Louisiana territory, to the United States in 1803 for just $15 million, a few million more than Alvin Kamara<\/a>‘s 2026 cap hit.\u00a0(Napoleon gets an F\u00a0trade grade<\/a> for that one.) Since then, the city has become a melting pot of French, Spanish, American, Caribbean and other cultures, bringing the world jazz, Creole cuisine, Mardi Gras and, of course, the Saints.<\/p>\n So closely has the city and its identity been aligned with French culture that the Saints’ logo — the fleur-de-lis — was a symbol of the French monarchy. Somewhat fittingly, New Orleans has trained this week in Versailles — not at\u00a0the famous palace of Louis XIV<\/a> of Bourbon (House<\/a>, not Street<\/a>), but close enough.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh isn’t without French influence — Fort Duquesne, built in the 18th century, was a French outpost until the end of the Seven Years’ War — but the Steelers will officially be the away team when they take the field Sunday. Mike McCarthy’s squad chose to arrive later in the week<\/a> than the Saints.<\/p>\n Stade de France — the national stadium located in Saint-Denis, just outside the arrondissements of Paris — is no stranger to major events. It hosted the 1998 World Cup final, which France won on home soil, and most recently athletics events and the closing ceremony for the 2024 Summer Olympics.<\/p>\n But it has never seen anything quite like an NFL game day.<\/p>\n