NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said he has no doubt that the league will eventually have a team permanently based outside the United States, in what Goodell described as the inevitable international expansion of professional football.
The comments came during a Goodell interview with German media outlet RTL/ntv, conducted with former NFL player Markus Kuhn. Goodell said there are international cities that could host such an event. He said the international cities that could host an NFL team could also potentially host a Super Bowl, though he was clear that a permanent team in a foreign market would need to come first.
Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s executive vice president of club business, international and league events, said in May that an international Super Bowl is not a front-burner issue for the league at this time. Those comments did not contradict Goodell’s framing, presenting the international Super Bowl as a longer-term possibility contingent on team placement rather than something the league is actively planning.
The NFL’s growing global footprint
The NFL voted earlier this year to play as many as 10 overseas games beginning in 2027, up from a previous limit of eight. The league also voted to remove teams’ ability to protect any home games from overseas designation, a structural change that signals the league’s intent to integrate these games more fully into the regular season calendar.
The 2026 schedule includes nine such games, comprising eight league-run games and a Wembley Stadium game under an existing agreement with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Host cities this year span several continents and markets, including Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, London, Paris, Madrid, Munich and Mexico City.
What a permanent team abroad would require
Moving from hosting regular-season games to placing a permanent franchise abroad is significantly more complex. A permanent team in a foreign city would require stable stadium arrangements, a large enough fan base to support consistent home attendance, regulatory and legal frameworks for operating an American sports business in a foreign jurisdiction, and the support of other franchise owners.
London is the most frequently discussed candidate for a permanent NFL franchise, given its long-standing relationship with the league through the NFL London Games series, which has been running since 2007. The Jaguars have played multiple home games per season at Wembley Stadium over the past decade and generated significant local interest.
Germany is another market the league has been cultivating, with Munich hosting games that have sold out quickly. The Goodell choice to discuss this topic in German media reflects awareness of that market’s potential.
The long view
The NFL’s global strategy has evolved from treating these games primarily as promotional events to treating them as genuine home games for franchises with established relationships with specific markets. The removal of home game protections suggests the league believes the revenue opportunity abroad now outweighs the preference of teams to keep all home games in their home markets.
For any city to eventually host a permanent NFL franchise, it would need to demonstrate sustained fan development and the commercial infrastructure that supports the economics of a professional football team year-round rather than for one or two games a season.
Goodell’s statement that he has no doubt this will happen is a meaningful signal without a timeline commitment. The Goodell certainty about the direction has been consistent, and the league’s actions on global scheduling are moving in the same direction as his words.
