The NFL International Series has played a large part in passing American football all over the globe. So far, NFL games have been played in the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Germany. On September 6th, we’ll be able to add Brazil to that list. By 2025, Spain will join the fray.
But the NFL isn’t satisfied yet.
According to Ken Maguire of the Associated Press, the NFL is also studying other possible host sites, such as Dublin and Paris.
According to Henry Hodgson, GM of the NFL’s UK office, there’s been “quite a surge of interest” in Dublin over the past 12 to 24 months. This has spurred the NFL to begin conducting studies to determine whether Dublin would be an ideal host for a regular season game in the near future.
It’s worth noting that three teams — the Jaguars, Jets, and Steelers — all had a representative in Ireland to make a live selection during Day 3 of last month’s NFL Draft.
The NFL is scheduled to play five games internationally during the 2024 season, but commissioner Roger Goodell wants that number to increase to eight or nine by 2025. Eventually, Goodell wants to see the NFL play as many as 16 games internationally each season.
With the NFL hoping to play many other games outside of the United States, which other countries could join the mix? Hodgson provided a few possibilities.
“We continue to look at and have interest in all the major cities across Europe. For now, Paris, Dublin — obviously we’re heading into Madrid in 2025 — those are the ones we’re most focused on in Europe.”
Henry Hodgson on NFL’s interest in other international host sites
Hodgson didn’t want to reveal any other major cities that the NFL is currently vetting, but if the plan is to get to 16 international games a year, more host sites are certainly on the way.
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