To absolutely no one’s surprise, the NFL is looking to further expand its international footprint next season.
At a press conference ahead of the league’s first-ever regular-season game in France this Sunday, NFL executive vice president Peter O’Reilly told reporters that the league is considering scheduling 10 international games next season, which would be the maximum allowable under the terms of the current collective bargaining agreement.
O’Reilly says the NFL is considering going up to 10 international games next season, the max allowed by the current CBA with the players.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) October 20, 2026
This season, the NFL is scheduled to play nine games in international markets, so the jump from nine to 10 wouldn’t be all that dramatic. But after playing five international contests in each season from 2022 to 2024, and then seven international games in 2025, the NFL’s international schedule is expanding at a fast pace.
Of course, this is all part of the NFL’s long-term plan to create a full-season slate of international games to sell to a broadcast partner. That would require the players to agree to amend the CBA should the league want to roll that out prior to 2031, when the current agreement with the players expires. Ideally, the league would likely want to have the full international schedule in place before then, so it can bring the package to market alongside the rest of its inventory following the 2029-30 season, when it can exit most of its current broadcast deals. The full-season international slate is often discussed in conjunction with an expansion to 18 regular-season games, which would also need to be approved by the players.
As the NFL adds international games, audiences for the Sunday afternoon pregame shows on Fox and CBS continue to dwindle. For European kickoffs, which begin in the morning in the United States, viewers often choose to watch the ongoing live game over studio programming leading into the 1 p.m. ET slate. Each additional European international game is also one fewer game that Fox and CBS can include in their Sunday afternoon windows, further diluting their packages (and not to mention Sunday Ticket).
The NFL views international markets as the key to future growth as the domestic market continues to mature. That’s why many view an expanded international schedule as a question of when, not if. And next year, it looks like the league will max out on such affairs.
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