(London) London one week, then Madrid the next?
Two-game stays on European soil could become the norm in the NFL since the league soon wants to present 16 international games per season.
Cities such as Dublin and Berlin are hoping to become new European NFL destinations, following London, Munich, Frankfurt, Germany, and Spain’s captaincy from 2025.
The Jacksonville Jaguars will play back-to-back games in London for the second straight season this year. This sequence will begin on October 13, when they will be the “visitors” against the Chicago Bears on the lawn of the Tottenham Hotspur stadium. The Jaguars will then host the New England Patriots on the turf of the legendary Wembley Stadium.
The league has already obtained approval from team owners to host eight games outside the United States, but commissioner Roger Goodell has made no secret that he wants to double that number.
“Occasionally a team will be visiting one week and then local the next, and that could happen in just one market or somewhere else in Europe,” said Henry Hodgson, the managing director of the British branch of the NFL.
“We would expect that with a schedule of 16 games per season, and that is part of the logistical and operational aspects that will have to be analyzed as we want to develop this niche,” he added.
Five international matches will be on the menu this season, including three in London starting on Sunday when the New York Jets face the Minnesota Vikings at the home of Tottenham, a Premier League club. On November 10, the New York Giants will cross swords with the Carolina Panthers in Munich. In the first NFL game in South America, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Green Bay Packers 34-29 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on September 6.
Many teams want to explore new markets – the Kansas City Chiefs, two-time defending Super Bowl champions, have made no secret of their desire to become “the team on the planet” – so two-week stays in abroad should not be a problem. Only seven teams still refuse to participate in the NFL’s “international markets program”, which gives them the rights in certain countries to sign commercial agreements.