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With a nine-game international slate in 2026, the NFL is now looking to expand its horizons to another continent.
Commissioner Roger Goodell told “NFL Daily” hosts Gregg Rosenthal and Jourdan Rodrigue Friday that the league wants to play its first regular-season game in Tokyo in the near future.
“Listen, Tokyo is clearly on our list, whether it’s next year or the year after,” Goodell said. “It’s coming at some point in the near future. We’re going to continue to focus on our priority markets, which a lot of them they’ve been in, but there are other cities this year, we went to Rio rather than São Paulo.
“We’re planning on playing global. That’s where we’re going.”
It wouldn’t be the first time the NFL has made its mark in Japan. The NFL played 14 exhibition games in Japan from 1976 through 2005, 13 of which were in Tokyo, but it has never played a regular-season game in the Asian nation.
The NFL wraps up its hefty 2026 international slate this weekend when the Steelers face the Saints in Paris, the first regular-season game to be played in France. The game is still slated to be held Sunday despite the recent unrest in the City of Light.
Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said he believes the league has followed the right protocols to make sure the game is safe.
“I definitely think that the NFL is alert to what’s going on,” Rodgers said on Friday. “This game means a lot to the NFL. If it was unsafe, then I’m sure we wouldn’t be here.”
NFL vice president of club business, international and league events Peter O’Reilly said earlier this week that the league is “considering” expanding to 10 international games for 2027.
The league scheduled its first international games in Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro and Paris this season. Goodell discussed the Week 1 Melbourne game as an example of a learning opportunity for teams on how to handle that kind of international travel and time difference for a game.
“On a Friday morning at 10:30, to have 100,000 people in the stadium, it was just an incredible feeling for us. I think it’s opened up new opportunities for us,” Goodell explained. “The travel is something we think we can manage and do it without impacting negatively on the teams.
“So, each of these we learned something from and we benefit and we also open those other doors.”
Under the league’s Global Markets Program, the Rams have marketing rights in Japan.