NFL grants international market access to four new teams

The Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Indianapolis Colts and New York Giants are going global.

The four teams are entering the NFL's Global Markets Program for the first time, with three of them including Germany among their target countries.

In the third year of the league's program, the total number of teams participating has risen to 25 across 19 different markets around the country. The program aims to help teams grow their presence on the international stage with events, marketing and commercial opportunities.

The Browns were granted rights to Nigeria — the first NFL team to access that market.

The Giants have rights to Germany, the Colts were allowed both Austria and Germany and the Lions were granted Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Canada.

The league also said that the Miami Dolphins are expanding their rights holdings to Argentina, Colombia and Mexico — the former two being targets for the first time. Miami already had rights in Brazil, Spain and the United Kingdom.

The Los Angeles Rams, who previously had rights in Australia, New Zealand, China and Mexico, became the first teams to expand their rights to Japan and South Korea.

"The momentum of the Global Markets Program underscores the strong commitment of NFL clubs to growing the game and their passionate fan bases around the world. Clubs are seeing the value and opportunity in new markets and aligning with the league to accelerate that growth together," Peter O'Reilly, the NFL's executive vice president for club business, major events and international, said in a statement. "We can't wait to see the ongoing impact of the program on fandom and global growth in this season and in years ahead, both in new and existing markets and via new clubs joining and active clubs deepening their strategic commitments."

—Field Level Media