London vs. Los Angeles in the Super Bowl?
An NFL team in Europe seems to move closer to reality every year, with Roger Goodell suggesting in a CNBC interview this week that multiple cities could be targets for an NFL franchise.
“There are markets that could certainly support a team,” Goodell said. “We’ve always focused on, what are the competitive consequences of that? Can we manage that? And so every year we try to learn something from the international series.”
That international series has grown from a single game per year in England going as far back as 2007 when the New York Giants earned a 13-10 victory over the Miami Dolphins. Single games continued through 2012 before two games were played in London.
There will be three separate games in England at two different locations this year, as part of an international series that will include seven games in 2025.
In addition to the three England games, the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers opened their schedule in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Germany, Ireland and Spain also will host games. The Los Angeles Rams are set to play a game in Australia in 2026.
“I would say that the markets outside the U.S. are very, very attractive,” Goodell said. “And we’ve got pretty good coverage here.”
The logistics of having a team across the Atlantic Ocean present a huge obstacle. In that sense, it might be more attractive for the NFL to have multiple teams in Europe.
“It starts to give you a sense of, can you do certain things that are going to be necessary from a scheduling standpoint and a training standpoint?” Goodell said. “When we first came up with the idea of (an international) regular-season game, I didn’t think there would be as much support. But now, every team wants to do it. We don’t have to talk them into it. They’re asking us.”