NFL homeowners approve report 10 worldwide video games for 2027 with sights on extra enlargement overseas

The NFL’s inexorable march towards taking part in a full season’s price of video games overseas took one other step Tuesday when membership homeowners authorized including yet one more worldwide recreation for the 2027 season, bringing that quantity to a report 10 video games.

And there’s additionally a risk the league would possibly be capable to add an eleventh worldwide recreation pending NFL Players Association approval.

So, sure, the NFL is absolutely invested within the export enterprise now and its video games are the product it’s sending abroad.

NFL THANKSGIVING SCHEDULE IS DEFINITELY NO TURKEY

The NFL this season will set a brand new report with 9 worldwide video games performed in Melbourne, Australia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Madrid, Spain, Paris, France, Munich, Germany and Mexico City, Mexico and three in London, England.

Club homeowners authorized rising the variety of worldwide video games at a gathering in Orlando, per NFL Executive Vice President Peter O’Reilly.

And if you happen to assume it should cease at 10 or 11 worldwide video games, you’d be mistaken. The league’s final aim is to play a full season of video games internationally. That means a whopping 17 or 18 video games overseas.

That additionally means a global recreation each week of the season.

And that additionally means each crew taking part in one worldwide recreation each season.

The proliferation of worldwide video games is so acute that league executives are effectively on their technique to not differentiating how they view video games in America and video games overseas.

People in Bavarian garments pose with an NFL supporter inside the normal Hofbraeuhaus in Munich, Germany, on Nov. 9, 2024, forward of the NFL recreation between the Carolina Panthers and the New York Giants in Munich on Nov. 10. (Matthias Schrader/AP)

“We don’t lock in our international games like we used to do not that long ago,” stated NFL Vice President of Broadcasting and Planning Mike North. “I mean, you guys will remember, we’ve announced international games at times in November for the following season. I think it’s indicative of how our fans and our teams and our partners are treating these games now.

“I do not need to name them routine. I do know they are not. But they’re simply one other NFL recreation on the schedule.”

FORMER NFL STARS WEIGH PROS AND CONS OF LEAGUE’S GLOBAL EXPANSION, STREAMING GAMES

The current Collective Bargaining Agreement limits the league to 10 international games a year, but there is an exception for teams that are unable to play at their regular home stadium. That will be the case for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2027.

EverBank Stadium, currently undergoing renovations, will be completely closed during the 2027 season. So the Jaguars have agreed to use Camping World Stadium in Orlando as their temporary home field. That means the NFL hopes to use the Jaguars game at Wembley Stadium as its 11th international game.

A general view outside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London before the NFL game between the Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans on Oct. 15, 2023. (Vincent Mignott/DeFodi Images)

O’Reilly also said the league has begun exploring the possibility of playing games in Japan. The league held preseason games there in the early 1990s, but the effort was short-lived. Now, according to O’Reilly, the idea is back.

And what does this mean for, you know, Americans living in the United States?

It means the NFL, which long ago surpassed baseball as the national sport, is increasingly wanting to dominate the world.

So, 10 or 11 games that would otherwise be played in the United States, won’t be. And the league plans to increase the number.

It means that the outsourcing of games temporarily takes home games away from local fans, although that complaint loses steam if the league expands to 18 games and local fans still get eight or nine home games per season as they do now.

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A graphic shows Washington Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu and Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, the site of the 2025 NFL Madrid Game. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)

It also means the NFL fully embraces the idea of turning some NFL Sundays into marathon events with an international game starting at 9:30 a.m. (ET), followed by the regular 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. windows on the East Coast, and the primetime 8:20 p.m. game to end the day — about 14 hours of NFL games on television.

The NFL, like it or not, is intent on continuing its expansion and because it already covers every corner of the United States, it has its sights set internationally. And it isn’t looking away because adding the international fan base is potentially a new revenue stream.

Some fans in the United States may balk at the idea they have to share their teams on some level with international venues and fans.

But the NFL has clearly determined that any potential loss will be outweighed by the growth of its international fan base.

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