A pair of NFL games, including Patriots-Colts, were played in Germany this season and lastgetty images
A move to require each NFL team to play one home game internationally "every four years instead of eight” has a “very good chance of passing” when it is voted upon this week at the league meetings, according to Peter King of NBCSPORTS.com. As
first reported by SBJ, the NFL as early as 2025 “could play as many as nine games outside the country.” In the last two years, and likely next year as well, the NFL has scheduled five games overseas. The last two seasons have seen three games in England and two in Germany. Next year's rotation is “likely three in London, one in Germany and one in either Brazil or Spain.” Mexico City will return to the rotation in 2025 "after an extended period of renovation of Estadio Azteca for the 2026 World Cup, with an international lineup TBD.” The openness of teams to hosting international games has happened because “franchises are working on marketing deals and building fan bases in foreign markets,” and these foreign markets treat NFL games with “only slightly less fervor than if Taylor Swift had a gig there.” There also could be another factor that makes more games outside the country “attractive to the league.” King: “Say the NFL, in 2025, plays three games in England, two in Germany, one in Mexico, one in Paris, one in Spain and one in Brazil. The Mexico City game would likely be a primetime game, possibly Monday or Thursday night. The other eight could be sold off as a new package of 9:30 a.m. games, either streamed or made a franchise anchor for NFL Network or for fledgling media property NFL+” (
NBCSPORTS.com, 12/11).
