The New England Patriots have played their own role in the FIFA World Cup. New England has hosted World Cup games at Gillette Stadium and the city of Boston has been filled with Scottish football fans. All of the excitement surrounding the World Cup has one important Patriots figure daydreaming about recreating the magic back in Scotland.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft has expressed an interest in his team playing an international game in Scotland, per Nicole Yang of Boston Globe.
The NFL has never played a regular-season game in Scotland before, which would make a hypothetical Patriots international game the first of its kind.
Kraft's ambitions perfect match what NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the rest of the league wants — more international games. The 2026 NFL season will feature nine international games taking place in seven different countries. It is the most international games in the same season in league history.
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Goodell has even talked in the past about potentially having 16 international games per season as well as an international Super Bowl. That way every team in the league could play in one international game per season.
“That’s an important mark to shoot for and I think we’re on our way.” Goodell said in February before the Super Bowl. “It’s the ambition we have to be a global sport, but it’s also the demand we’re having. We’re hearing from cities that want to host these games and really want to get more American football.”
Yang noted that, according to Goodell, 90% of the crowds at international games are fans from the host country. Perhaps the Scottish fans who attended World Cup games in Boston might want to see the Patriots play back in their home country.
It will be interesting to see if the Patriots end up getting their wish during the 2027 NFL offseason.
The New England Patriots have played their own role in the FIFA World Cup. New England has hosted World Cup games at Gillette Stadium and the city of Boston has been filled with Scottish football fans. All of the excitement surrounding the World Cup has one important Patriots figure daydreaming about recreating the magic back in Scotland.