Roger Goodell, commissioner of the NFL, stated this Friday that the league projects schedule up to 16 international matches per season in the future.
“This will become more challenging for us. We actually believe that we can be a global sport, so I see us playing at least 16 away games at some point in the international market on something that could take us 10 years,” said Goodell, who is in Detroit, Michigan, where the NFL Draft is taking place.
For the 2024 season, the NFL has five international games scheduled and seeks to have at least eight from 2025.
NFL in Brazil
In the first game of this year, the Green Bay Packers will face the Philadelphia Eagles on Friday, September 6 in week 1, a game that will take place at the Corinthians Arena in São Paulo, Brazil. This will be the first regular season game to be held in South America.
The other four duels will be in Europe. In London the Chicago Bears and the Minnesota Vikings, who are still waiting for their rival to be announced, They will play at Tottenham Stadium and the Jacksonville Jaguars will appear at Wembley Stadium.
The other duel, in which the Carolina Panthers will perform, will be at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
Roger Goodell hopes to carry out the project in 10 years
The commissioner also discussed the possibility of the NFL expanding its competition with an international franchise.
“That could take us more than 10 years. It’s difficult because you have many challenges. We can solve logistics with a competitive side. You get to Sunday night at the end of the regular season and say: Seattle, you’re going to London. “It is a difficult 12-hour flight, it is complicated,” said Goodell.
The commissioner also referred to the possibility of the NFL season lengthening its schedule from 17 to 18 games, which would cause the Super Bowl will be played in mid-February and not in the first week of that month.
“I prefer to replace a preseason game with a regular season game. With that we would reach 18 games and two preseason games instead of three; “It’s not something crazy.”
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