Next year in Jerusalem” — exclaimedat the end of the Passover seder —was conveyed at the end of a different kind of gathering: an NFL game between the Miami Dolphins and Washington Commanders.
“It’d be pretty cool to go play in Jerusalem,” Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said postgame.
The game — which the Dolphins won 16-13 in overtime — was the NFL’s first in Spain, as part of a growing international series that’s seen NFL contests played in England, Germany, Brazil, Ireland and Mexico.
Why not Jerusalem?
Tagovailoa, a Christian, was asked where else he’d like to play after Madrid and previously Frankfurt, Germany.
His answer caught the eye of a high-ranking diplomat: Mike Huckabee, the US Ambassador to Israel.
“Tua is right,” Huckabee wrote on X. “Bringing an NFL game to Israel is a great idea. Next year in Jerusalem . . . I like the sound of that.”
The suggestion comes amid a contested role for Israel as a host in global sporting events.
EuroLeague basketball is supposed to return next month, and officials from the league are in Israel now to assess conditions before finalizing the plan.
The Union of European Football Assn. had been set to vote on suspending Israel but paused after the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza last month.
Ireland’s soccer federation submitting a motion earlier this month to ban Israel from all UEFA competition.
Tagovailoa’s comments on playing in Israel did not mark the first time speaking about the country during a postgame media availability. Following a home game on Oct. 15, 2023 — a week after Hamas’ atrocities in southern Israel — Tagovailoa said:
“I didn’t really realize how bad things were in Israel. And just wanted to bring to the attention for those who don’t necessarily understand things that are going on, that it really is bad.
“I don’t know what we’ve come to, but just my thoughts, my prayers are out with those people in Israel.”
He sent on to note that there is “also the Ukraine and Russia war still going on as well.”
There has been no indication from the NFL about a potential game in Israel, though Robert Kraft — the American billionaire owner of the New England Patriots, who is Jewish and founded the Blue Square Alliance against Hate, formerly called the Foundation to Combat Anti-Semitism — sponsored the construction of the Kraft Family Sports Campus in Jerusalem, which includes an American football field.
The adjacent park, Gan Sacher, is routinely home to informal football and flag football games.
The capacity of Jerusalem’s largest stadium, Teddy Stadium, is just 31,000. Attendance at the NFL’s international games have ranged from upwards of 86,000 to, at their lowest, 47,000.
