Secretary of State Marco Rubio personally assured NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell that this weekend's game in France "will be fine" — a remarkable intervention by America's top diplomat to greenlight a corporate sporting event in a country where streets are still being cleaned from riots.
The first-ever NFL game in France, pitting the New Orleans Saints against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Stade de France on Sunday, has become a case study in the corporate-state alliance: government officials providing diplomatic cover for a league's overseas business expansion while a foreign capital deals with unrest that has seen cars burned, shops looted, and curfews imposed.
Rubio confirmed to Fox News that he spoke with Goodell, relaying the U.S. embassy's assessment: "Our embassy feels the game will be fine. We have no indication the game will be impacted in any way." He added he was "never planning to go anyways."
Goodell told reporters his comfort level was "very high," noting that "protests are not unusual in France." Fox News reported that multiple French media outlets say a major protest is scheduled for Saturday — one day before kickoff. The stadium sits roughly 20 miles from central Paris, where much of the weekend violence occurred.
The Baton Rouge Advocate framed the entire trip as a cultural celebration, running an editorial that read like a Louisiana tourism brochure. The paper praised the "charm offensive" by Louisiana Economic Development and noted that Gov. Jeff Landry invited dignitaries and business leaders to an exclusive dinner, with French President Emmanuel Macron and executives from SpaceX, Meta, Sodexo, and Chanel expected at various events. The Advocate buried the unrest in a single sentence near the end: "this game comes amid demonstrations in France that began with students protesting poor conditions but devolved over the weekend into rioting and looting."
The Anchorage Daily News provided the most ground-level picture: municipal workers cleaning debris, shopkeepers repairing windows and security grates, and curfews in "some trouble spots." Saints players, meanwhile, toured the Eiffel Tower and attended a Paris Saint-Germain Champions League match. Safety Justin Reid called the PSG game "literally the highlight of my trip" and said of the protests: "I don't think any of us have any worries," adding the NFL provided "plenty of security." Defensive end Cam Jordan said he "didn't see anything" related to property damage.
The Saints have held exclusive marketing rights in France since 2023 and have spent money cultivating a fan base there. The NFL is pushing games in Australia, Brazil, the U.K., Spain, Germany, and Mexico — a global commercial expansion that now comes with the backing of the U.S. State Department.
When the Secretary of State is personally vouching for the safety of a football game in a riot-torn foreign capital, the question isn't whether the game should go on. It's why American diplomatic capital is being spent to make it happen.
