The NFL closed its “NFL House” in Paris on Saturday as the city braced for street protests with a heavy police presence and storefronts boarded up.
The league announced the closure to fans on Saturday morning through its “OnePass” app, a day after saying its pop-up NFL shop would also be shut on Saturday – in both cases citing “potential accessibility issues”.
Security concerns have overshadowed the NFL’s debut in Paris. The New Orleans Saints will play the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday at Stade de France in the league’s first regular-season game in France.
Also on Saturday, the Saints announced that “Saints House has been postponed until Sunday.”
Events planned for Saturday at NFL House included “French Athletes in Football” and “From the Field to the Community”.
“I was looking forward to just checking out some of the installations they had – they were going to have the Lombardi Trophy,” fan Nick Paiva said.
Major museums, including the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, were closed on Saturday, though tourists lined up to enter Notre Dame Cathedral. French authorities were intent on preventing a repeat of recent violent unrest.
The disorder has also disrupted French football, with Sunday’s Ligue 1 match between Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon postponed until Monday at the request of local police, who cited security concerns and the strain on resources.
The US state department issued a security alert this week cautioning “Americans in Paris for the NFL game” to “exercise caution and be aware of their surroundings” because of protests.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said this week that preparations had been made in consultation with US and French authorities. Street protests, he said, “are not unusual in France”.
Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said on Friday that he was confident the game would go ahead as planned. “I definitely think that the NFL is alert to what’s going on,” the four-time MVP said. “This game means a lot to the NFL. If it was unsafe, then I’m sure we wouldn’t be here.”
On Friday, French president Emmanuel Macron met Goodell, Saints owner Gayle Benson and Steelers owner Art Rooney II at the Élysée Palace to “discuss Sunday’s game and the long-term future of the NFL in Paris”.
The NFL said on Friday that its pop-up shop in the city center would be closed on Saturday but that fans could use an alternative shop at Stade de France, north of the city in Saint-Denis.
A weekend event for Steelers fans was canceled on Thursday because of security concerns.
Paiva, an American who lives in France, wanted to visit NFL House, where his French partner could learn more about the sport.
He had also expected to participate in the league’s “Hail Mary over the Seine” activation, in which fans try to throw a football across the famed waterway near Notre Dame. Despite having registered, Paiva was told at the site that he also needed to have reserved a time slot.
“That was not communicated very well,” he said after being turned away. “C’est comme ça – it’s the way it is.”
French teenager Oskar Le Gall, wearing a Bryce Young jersey, was able to give it a shot. His throw came up a little short. A worker on the other side stayed busy scooping balls out of the river with a long pole fitted with a net.
Le Gall, who is from Brittany, said “the atmosphere of the NFL in Paris is amazing”, noting that French sports leagues and teams typically do not promote themselves as extensively.
Le Gall and his brother were keeping an eye on the planned route of Saturday’s protests.
“It doesn’t feel calm and good to be a tourist in Paris,” he said. “It’s not good for the NFL.”
At one point during the Hail Mary event, 11 national police vans with their emergency lights flashing drove past on the street above as a fan prepared to throw a ball.
Steelers fan Monika Allen was able to avoid any protests thanks to advice posted in fan-led Facebook groups.
“The fans are doing a good job keeping each other informed of where to be and where not to be,” Allen said near the Hail Mary event.
Her cousin, Viktor Toth, was wearing her black Terry Bradshaw Steelers jersey.
“We’re not worried,” she said. “My cousin is Hungarian, so he knows that the protests happen regularly in Paris.”
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