The 2026 NFL schedule is finally here. Every year the NFL shows off how many international games will be played ahead of the new season. It appears that the number of international games is only set to increase in the future.
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated teased that the NFL may expand its slate of international games for the 2027 season.
“At the league’s spring meeting in Orlando on Tuesday, owners will vote to push the number of league-run international games from eight to 10 for the 2027 season,” Breer wrote on Monday. “The total of nine this year folds in the Jaguars’ game at Wembley, which is negotiated and run by the team, which means we could have 11 international games next year.”
The NFL will play international games in seven different countries in 2026. Those include France, Spain, Mexico, Germany, Brazil, Australia, and England. The league also played an international game in Ireland during the 2025 season.
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Breer explained that owner feel this strategy is the best way to grow the NFL's brand. It should be a priority for the league moving forward, even if it creates complications for schedule makers.
“It’s complicated making it all work, even more so when there’s one basically every week—the league has a game in a foreign country in nine of the first 11 weeks of the 2026 season, with Week 2 and Week 8 standing as the exceptions,” Breer added. “But this push has long been a point of emphasis for the owners, who believe that domestic growth has been pushed to a limit to where their next wave of growth will come in foreign currency.”
It will be interesting to see how much the NFL expands its global footprint in the years to come.
The 2026 NFL schedule is finally here. Every year the NFL shows off how many international games will be played ahead of the new season. It appears that the number of international games is only set to increase in the future. Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated teased that the NFL may expand its slate of international games for the 2027 season.