NFL expanding international slate of games: Report [Update]

Updated Dec. 13: ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that the NFL is preparing to play future international games in Spain and Brazil, according to the league’s executive vice president Peter O’Reilly.

“There’s a lot of interest in the NFL,” O’Reilly said. “I mean, we saw it. We did a Super Bowl viewing party last year down in Brazil, and it was packed and the energy is there.”

The games could take place as early as next year, Schefter reported. The NFL has looked into playing at the home stadiums of Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, and sent officials to also scout Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo as possible locations.

It’s official.

Two days after Roger Goodell teased “a very global NFL,” a report from Sports Business Journal stated that team owners could vote on an expanded slate of international games.

According to the proposal, teams would be required to give up a home game for an international game once every four years. That would cut the eight-year rotation established in 2022 in half, effectively doubling the number of international games each season.

“We’re really excited about that,” Goodell said last week when asked about entering new markets. “I don’t see that as much as expanding the number of franchises as I do expanding the opportunity for people to really just enjoy the game.

“I am convinced that this game is going to be a global sport,” Goodell continued. “We could’ve sold over our two games in Germany 4.5 million tickets. They sold out in minutes. And it’s literally the same with the U.K. I think you’re going to see a very global NFL, not necessarily with franchises, but maybe like have one playing games on a global basis. And I see that happening in the next five to 10 years.”

Since the eight-year rotation began, there have been five annual international games – four games within the rotation system, as well as an extra Jaguars game at Wembley Stadium. If this verdict were to pass, that number could potentially go up to nine, with eight in rotation plus the Jags’ Wembley game.

Per SPJ, this would enable the league to expand international contests to new countries like Brazil and Spain without removing already-popular games in Germany and London. Long term, the NFL could increase inventory in burgeoning NFL markets like Germany and Mexico.

According to the report, the system would not have to be fully implemented at the onset. However, one source told SBJ that the current international inventory is “insufficient” to the league’s current demand.