Twitter: Confirmed international games for 2026 season

BotchedLobotomy said:
Outside the US, the two biggest foreign fan bases are located in Canada and Mexico. Shouldn't the leagues focus be on those two countries?

There is no way American Football will ever be anything but a small curiosity in Australia. It's up against Australian rules football, rugby, cricket and soccer.
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I know a country that might be a better idea lol
 
My prediction-Cowboys host Cardinals in Mexico, 2 weeks after Thanksgiving
 
CalPolyTechnique said:
I’m not asking for it, but you would think if the NFL wants to showcase the brand internationally, they’d schedule marquee teams like the Cowboys, Chiefs, et cetera.

Internationally, people know the Dallas Cowboys like Americans know Manchester United even if they don’t follow euro football/soccer.
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The Cowboys arent as popular overseas as in the US. Would be at least 10-15 more teams who are way more popular in most European countries.
 
BotchedLobotomy said:
Outside the US, the two biggest foreign fan bases are located in Canada and Mexico. Shouldn't the leagues focus be on those two countries?

There is no way American Football will ever be anything but a small curiosity in Australia. It's up against Australian rules football, rugby, cricket and soccer.
Click to expand...
The sport seems to be growing rapidly in Australia.

They won the recent Asia-Oceana Championships. They beat Japan in the final and defeated American Samoa twice in the group stage. Just think how many Samoans are playing in the NFL - it appears the Australians are now stronger.
 
I dont get the losing a home game thing. NFL teams play 8 home and 8 away games. The 17th game was added to allow for overseas games to be played without costing teams a home game. NFL has always said this and aims to have every team playing overseas every year by 2030.
 
Only the Chicago Bears’ ownership voted against international games. The max agreed to, as of now, is eight per season. In addition, starting in 2023, every team must play at least one international game every eight years. That will likely increase soon as owners believe these games are in the best long term interest of the league.
 
nhcowboysfan said:
I think it's okay to have a game or two a year over in London or Mexico. Or to mix it up maybe and have a game in Berlin or Madrid, instead of London, since these distances aren't significantly more than traveling between the East and West coasts. But I don't like this steady increase in venues across the globe. What locations are next... Cairo, Tokyo, New Delhi, and Singapore? Most of the people who will be watching these games live at the stadium won't even be Americans or football fans. I don't think the locals are going to start buying up jerseys and other items of teams for a game they likely don't even understand.
More importantly, the detrimental effect on players due to jet lag and playing on unfamiliar surfaces.
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I think you are under estimating the fanbase overseas. Its huge. Most people attending these games are knowledgeable fans who've followed the sport for a long time. TV coverage in Europe is the same as the US - all game times are broadcast. For each of the 1pm and 4pm est slots, two games are broadcast live on different channels with redzone on a third.

Where I live, these are primetime TV times - 6pm and 9pm local time on a Sunday evening. Big TV audiences.
 
KingCorcoran said:
Only the Chicago Bears’ ownership voted against international games. The max agreed to, as of now, is eight per season. In addition, starting in 2023, every team must play at least one international game every eight years. That will likely increase soon as owners believe these games are in the best long term interest of the league.
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Strange the Bears voted against. They were one of a number of teams who asked to play the Dublin game last September!

I think that vote has been superceded by another. There are 9 games in 2026. I also understand it has been agreed to add 3 more by 2028 as a stepping stone towards 16 in 2030.
 
And now a game in Paris is added to this list. It's definitely all about the cash. Goddell has been dying to put a team full-time in London for years. Luckily, I think the players as a whole and a bunch of the owners are not in favor of that. So these international games are what we get instead. They're ringing the cash register like crazy with these.
 
csirl said:
Strange the Bears voted against. They were one of a number of teams who asked to play the Dublin game last September!

I think that vote has been superceded by another. There are 9 games in 2026. I also understand it has been agreed to add 3 more by 2028 as a stepping stone towards 16 in 2030.
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The vote was years ago. The way the Bears have played until recently a game anywhere but in Chicago probably seemed like a good idea.

Yeah, I saw they’re looking to increase the number of international games significantly.
 
This is getting ridiculous. It absolutely dilutes the “National” in the National Football League.

I understand the NFL’s global growth push, but seven international games is overdoing it. These aren’t exhibitions, they’re regular-season home games being pulled from real fans. At some point, growth shouldn’t come at the expense of the people who built the league. It’s a middle finger to home crowds, adds unnecessary travel fatigue for players, and messes with scheduling and home-field balance.

If international fans want to experience the NFL live, they’re more than welcome to travel to America, just like soccer fans here have to travel overseas to see the biggest matches in the world.
 
SlammedZero said:
This is getting ridiculous. It absolutely dilutes the “National” in the National Football League.

I understand the NFL’s global growth push, but seven international games is overdoing it. These aren’t exhibitions, they’re regular-season home games being pulled from real fans. At some point, growth shouldn’t come at the expense of the people who built the league. It’s a middle finger to home crowds, adds unnecessary travel fatigue for players, and messes with scheduling and home-field balance.

If international fans want to experience the NFL live, they’re more than welcome to travel to America, just like soccer fans here have to travel overseas to see the biggest matches in the world.
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The owners know whether or not there’s a market for their product overseas. And the owners know there are plenty of wealthy people in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, that are smart enough to figure out if there’s a market for American-style football. The last thing NFL owners want is a well financed rival overseas football league.

The PGA wasn’t particularly pleased with LIV golf. NFL owners enjoy top players being paid comparatively little for the first four or five years of their careers. Players with a choice may well select an overseas league for more money than their rookie contract. They are already increasingly inclined to stay in the college game because of money. In addition, a rival league will not be encumbered with not being able to sign 18 year olds.

If the business parameters of pro football changes it will be the 32 NFL ownership groups that change it. They won’t wait for change to be forced on them. They intend to run the game everywhere. That’s why the Canadian government treats the CFL as a “cultural asset” rather than a business to be better able to protect it.
 
Who gets stuck traveling to Australia? That is a huge disadvantage!
 
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