The NFL has spent most of the past decade toying with the idea of adding an international team, and based on what Roger Goodell recently had to say about the situation, it doesn’t feel like such a pipe dream anymore. As a matter of fact, it now sounds more like a question of when it will happen than of whether it will happen.
During a recent interview with RTL/ntv in Germany, Goodell said there was “no doubt” in his mind that the NFL will eventually have an international team.
“At some point, there will be NFL teams outside the USA,” the NFL commissioner said. “I have no doubt that this will happen one day.”
The most notable part of Goodell’s statement might be that he said “teams,” as in plural, suggesting the NFL could be planning to have multiple international teams. Goodell once said that putting an entire division in Europe would make more sense than putting one team out there, so that could be the NFL’s long-term goal.
“We’re trying to sort of see, could you have multiple locations in Europe where you could have an NFL franchise, because it would be easier as a division,” Goodell said back in 2022.
When and where an international team could happen
Although Goodell seems confident that the NFL will eventually have an international team, it likely won’t happen any time soon. During an interview in April 2024, Goodell was actually asked what a possible timeline might look like for adding an international team (or even a division).
“Will a franchise ever happen or a division? Maybe. But that’s beyond 10 years,” Goodell said.
Based on that comment, it would be the mid-2030s at the earliest for the NFL to add an international franchise.
Adding an international team might be way down the road, but the NFL has been paying close attention to how international cities are responding to hosting NFL games and Goodell feels that there are multiple cities that could eventually be the home to a team.
“There are markets that could certainly support a team,” Goodell said back in October 2025.
If the NFL does add a team outside the United States, London seems like the most obvious candidate. The English capital hosted the first regular-season European game in 2007 and has hosted at least one game in every season since, with the exception of 2020, when the NFL didn’t hold any international games due to COVID.
If the NFL were to put an entire division in Europe, there’s a chance that London could end up with multiple teams.
“There’s no question that London could support, not just one franchise, I think two franchises. I really believe that,” Goodell said back in 2022. “That’s from a fan perspective, from a commercial standpoint, from a media standpoint. I think [London] has proven that.”
In 2026, London will be hosting three games for the fifth straight season.
One thing that has slowed down the process of putting a team in an international city is that there are a lot of logistics that would need to be worked out.
“We’ve always focused on, ‘what are the competitive consequences of that? Can we manage that?’ And so every year we try to learn something from the international series,” Goodell said.
As Goodell mentioned, one of the biggest problems with putting in Europe (or another country) is that it would set up a few competitive disadvantages. The travel schedule would be brutal for a team in Europe and due to higher taxes in most international countries, free agents may not be eager to sign with a team based outside the United States.
From a travel standpoint, the NFL has been experimenting with the schedule to see if teams can handle multiple games abroad in a single season. Back in 2023, the Jaguars became the first team in NFL history to play back-to-back international games, playing two straight games in London. In 2024, the Vikings became the first team to play back-to-back international games in two different countries (England and Ireland). In 2026, the 49ers will become the first team to play two international games in non-consecutive weeks. All of this will help the NFL determine whether it makes sense to eventually put a team abroad.
For now, the NFL is more focused on expanding its international schedule. The NFL’s international series has been expanding rapidly over the past few years. For more than a decade, London was the only city that hosted an international game, but the NFL has rapidly added more and more cities over the past few years.
Last year, Dublin, Berlin and Madrid all hosted a game for the first time. In 2026, the NFL will be playing games in Rio de Janeiro and Melbourne, Australia, for the first time as part of a record-setting slate that will see the league play nine games out of the country. The NFL will also likely be adding a game in Asia soon.
According to Goodell, the league’s ultimate goal is to play 16 international games per year.
“I think our next step after Australia would be probably moving into Asia,” Goodell said back in September, via NFL.com. “That’s a continent we’d like to be playing in. We are serious about being a global sport. We would like to get to 16 games so everyone is playing one game a year internationally.”
Will there be an international Super Bowl?
Although Goodell sounded optimistic about the NFL eventually adding an international team, we probably won’t see an international Super Bowl anytime soon. The NFL commissioner said that he would want an international city to have a team before awarding them the Super Bowl.
“There are definitely international cities that could host something like that,” Goodell said of an international Super Bowl. “But we would like to see an NFL team in such a city first.”
With the NFL so focused on expanding its slate of international games, it’s unlikely we’ll see an international franchise anytime soon, and if there’s no franchise, there will be no international Super Bowl.
