The NFL International Series has succeeded in growing the league’s popularity worldwide and the league is looking to expand it.
Sunday’s Week 10 matchup between the Carolina Panthers and New York Giants in Germany was the fifth and final game of international play in 2024, and now, the league is looking into expanding the International Series up to 8 games for the 2025 season.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell discussed the league’s future international plans while appearing on NFL GameDay on Sunday. The NFL’s head honcho expects to return to London, Brazil, Mexico City, and Germany, a debut in Spain, and possibly Ireland next season for the 8-game slate.
Previously, it was reported that the NFL could opt out of its current broadcast deal as soon as 2029 before it concludes at the end of the 2033 season. If the league decides to sell its International Series as a package then it would have a levy of potential suitors.
Potential Bidders for the NFL’s International Series
If the NFL can strike a media rights package for its international games, sources told Front Office Sports, “the league could fetch more than $1 billion in rights fees.”
“But there’s clearly been a focus on international, how we grow the game there, grow our commercial operations, grow the fan base. That certainly has a lot to do with how we do our game packages, both here and abroad. But we haven’t made any decisions yet,” said NFL Chief Media and Business Officer Brian Rolapp in the FOS newsletter.
The NFL has not commented on who is or isn’t interested in an international lineup of games. However, with the league being a ratings juggernaut, it is hard to imagine that there would be a shortage of networks and platforms looking to broadcast those games.
In 2024, the five international games could be found on NFL+, like all games for fans watching on mobile devices. The NFL’s first game in Brazil was a Peacock exclusive, and the other four games, three in London and one in Germany were carried on the NFL Network.
If the league decides to spin off the games as a package, look for their legacy media partners like CBS, NBC, and ESPN/ABC to make a bid to bring the games to Paramount+, Peacock, or ESPN+, respectively.
Tech companies with a huge global reach like Amazon, which is home to Thursday Night Football, could bring the International Series to games to millions of eyeballs worldwide on Prime Video. Also, after striking a deal to bring Christmas Day games to Netflix, the platform could get in the mix and bring the international games to its 280+ million subscribers.
Another tech company that could be in play is Apple if they choose to add to their MLB and MLS lineup of sports on Apple TV. The world’s second-most valuable company has been in reported talks with the NFL in the past, most notably with Sunday Ticket. But the two were unable to come to an agreement as the league decided to go with the rival’s YouTube TV. Apple TV+ may not have as many subscribers as Prime Video or Netflix, but with billions of devices around the world, Apple has a convincing case of getting those games in the eyes of fans.
Speaking of Sunday Ticket, YouTube TV shouldn’t be ruled out either. With YouTube and YouTube TV, the subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. could expand its NFL offerings to its platform of 2.5 billion monthly active users.
Future NFL International Game Locations
With the league trying to expand to an 18-game regular season, Goodell wants the number of international games to grow to 16.
“When we were down in Brazil a few weeks ago, it was the same thing,” the commissioner said. “A lot of enthusiasm, excitement over the game, and I believe great potential. So, we’ll be back there, I’m sure. We’re going to continue to grow. I think we’ll end up going to 16 (international) games at some point in time. The owners have already authorized us in going to eight, but I’m confident, particularly if we can do the restructuring of the season, that we would get to 16 at some point,” said Goodell weeks after the league’s first game in Brazil (H/T NFL.com).
In addition to Madrid, Spain, and Dublin, Ireland, Goodell stated that “the game is destined to be global,” on Good Morning Football back in September. The commissioner has eyes on bringing games to Africa, Australia, and Asia soon.