NFL Celebrates Upcoming Game In Spain On Same Day USA Announces Cutoff In Trade Relationship With Spain

Timing is a big deal in the game of football and let's just agree that the NFL's timing in announcing and celebrating its 2026 international game in Spain is not optimal.

Just consider the news of the day:

Atlanta Falcons Headed To Spain

On Tuesday morning, the league trumpeted its 2026 regular-season game in Spain and announced the Atlanta Falcons will be one of the teams making the trip to play in Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, in which the league has signed a multi-year commitment to play games.

Well, the NFL celebration of another trek to Spain got a dose of reality on Tuesday afternoon when President Donald Trump addressed reporters during his Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. 

During a question-and-answer session, the President announced he intends to cut off all trade with Spain. The move is tied to the Spanish socialist government's disdain for the current American administration and the manner it reacted when the United States requested authorization to use its bases in Spain for Operation Epic Fury against Iran.

The socialists denied the United States authority to use Naval Station Rota and Moron Air Base, which usually houses the multiple U.S. KC-135 Stratotankers vital for refueling on long-range missions.

"Spanish bases are not being used for this operation, and they will not be used for anything not included in the agreement with the United States or for anything that is not in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations," socialist Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on behalf of the socialist government headed by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

US President Donald Trump meets with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on March 3, 2026. Chancellor Merz is the first European leader to visit President Trump since the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images)

President Trump Cuts Spain Trade

That made President Trump feel a certain way.

"Well, some of the European nations have been helpful and some haven't," he said in the company of Merz on Tuesday. "And I'm, you know, very surprised. Germany has been great. He's been terrific. Others have been very good, terrific … But some of the Europeans, like Spain, have been terrible. 

"In fact, I told [United States Secretary of the Treasury] Scott [Bessent] to cut off all dealings with Spain. Spain, first of all, it started when every European nation, at my request, paid five percent [of GDP to NATO], which they should be doing, and everybody was enthusiastic about it. 

"Germany, everybody, and Spain didn't do it. And now, Spain actually said that we can't use their bases, and that's all right. We don't. We could use their bases if we want. We could just fly in and use it. Nobody's going to tell us not to use it, but we don't have to. But they were unfriendly. 

"And so, I told him, we don't want to — Spain has absolutely nothing that we need other than great people. They have great people, but they don't have great leadership. And, as you know, they were the only country that, in NATO, would not agree to go up to five percent. I don't think they want it agreed to go up to anything. They wanted to keep it at two percent and they don't pay the two percent. 

"So we're going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don't want anything to do with Spain."

MADRID, SPAIN - NOVEMBER 16: Detail of the Bernabeu with a welcome banner before the National Football League (NFL) 2025 Madrid Game, between the Miami Dolphins and Washington Commanders at Bernabeu stadium on November 16, 2025. (Photo By Irina R. Hipolito/Europa Press via Getty Images)

Temporarily A Rough Spot For NFL 

That leaves the NFL in an interesting situation in the short term. And it's happening despite the fact the NFL and the State Department are committed to partnering to enhance global sports diplomacy.

The league does not intend to reschedule its game in Spain, per a league source. Nor does it have to, regardless of the United States cutting off Spanish olive oil and wine coming into the country.

But this obviously puts the NFL on the wrong side of things – the All-American sport cavorting with a country that is actively trying to make things more difficult for American troops locked in conflict.

Bad optics.

The hope here, I'm told, is the conflict in Iran will indeed be over in the 4-5 weeks the Trump administration has given as a general timetable for operations to last. And perhaps everyone will have forgotten about the rough feelings between governments when the NFL's Spain game is played in the Fall.