NFL Adds More International Games But Adding International Team Another Matter
The NFL on Wednesday is making news about expanding its global reach as owners have approved a 2024 game in Brazil and are doubling the number of games played outside U.S. soil from four to eight by 2025.
"Bringing the NFL to new continents, countries and cities around the world is a critical element of our plan to continue to grow the game globally," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said. "Brazil has established itself as a key market for the NFL, and we are excited to be playing in Brazil and São Paulo for the first time in 2024."
So on it's face the NFL's reach for international branding is expanding.
But it is not expanding with, you know, actual expansion.
NFL Looks To Add International Series
The league's move to play games in London, Germany, and Brazil, while eventually planning a return to Mexico, is in part a reaction to the league recognizing that putting a team in London or Germany is simply not feasible now.
And probably not anytime soon, according to a league source who told OutKick on Wednesday that there will be no international team placed abroad for at least "five to seven years and maybe even longer."
Sorry, London.
Sorry, Frankfurt or Berlin or Munich.
Your time is not here yet.
NFL International Games In Germany A Success
Expanding overseas or relocating a team overseas raises too many difficulties. And the NFL simply isn't equipped to solve those at present.
The expansion problems posed by the distance of putting a franchise in Europe and how that would logistically upset competitive balance is among the primary issues that have no easy solutions.
So until the league finds a way to overcome the challenges of expansion overseas, the best compromise to grow the brand internationally is sending more games overseas.
Teams no. Games yes.
About the games: Owners approved the proposal to add games for 2025 at a league meeting in Dallas.
A view of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on October 15, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
London Has Been A Popular International Stop
The games in 2024 will include a game in Sao Paulo's Corinthians Arena, three games in London and one in Munich. The additional games for 2025 have not been set.
And the additional 2025 games in Europe could mean NFL games for fans back home in America from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on as many as eight weekends out of the season.
More games will eventually open the door for perhaps as many as seven games to be played in Germany and London. This season the NFL played two games at London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and one at Wembley Stadium. The league also played two games at Frankfurt's Deutsche Bank Park.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have a deal with Wembley to play one game there through 2024 but that extends beyond the NFL international series initiative. The Jaguars, however, have vehemently denied any intention of relocating to London and indeed built a $120 million practice facility that opened this year in Jacksonville.
The club is also pushing forward on plans for a new stadium in downtown Jacksonville. That plan has taken a lot of work since 2016.
Jaguars owner Shahid Khan. (Photo by: 2017 Nick Cammett/Diamond Images/Getty Images)
Jaguars Have No Plans To Abandon Jacksonville
"From stadium discussions starting in 2016 to the formal process launched in July 2020 and now concluding, our objective has always been the same – lock in a promising future for the Jaguars and help our downtown become an economic engine to lift all of Jacksonville," club owner Shahid Khan said at the plan unveiling this summer.
"This is also all happening at a fantastic time for everyone. Jacksonville is red hot. Just check out all of the recent rankings -- best places to live, best housing market, hottest job market, best place to start a business. Jacksonville ranks within the top five in all of those lists."
That doesn't sound like a man about to relocate his team. The Jaguars would need to find somewhere to play during stadium construction. That issue has not yet been fully decided. The club was actually in talks with Daytona International Speedway about using the site, per a report.
Daytona, Florida is in the United States. And the USA is where the NFL apparently will continue to keep all its teams for a while.