The NFL returns to the United Kingdom this weekend with the first of three London games to be played in the month of October.
We’ll see the Indianapolis Colts take on the Washington Commanders at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday and the following week we will welcome back the Jacksonville Jaguars as they clash with the Philadelphia Eagles at the same venue.
The trio of games will end at Wembley Stadium on October 18 with the Jags taking on their division rivals in the AFC South in the Houston Texans.
The NFL continues its commitment to the UK but it’s clear they are looking more globally than ever before. By the end of this 2026 season we will have seen nine regular season games played internationally and the NFL is growing braver.
I think London played a big part in that as well by proving time and time again how you can get teams in, get them practising efficiently, get them playing the game and then get them out.
That blueprint has now been taken quite literally to the other side of the world. So this season we’ll see firsts with games already played in Australia and in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. We’ll also see a first this year with a game in Paris, France towards the end of October.
So this NFL train is not slowing down. In fact it’s only going to gather pace. I think we’ll see 10 games played next season and I don’t think we’re very far away from seeing 16 being played internationally every year.
That of course will come once the league negotiates any new deal with the Players Association that takes the regular season up to 18 games from its current 17 right now. So at first glance the league is intent on continuing with its Formula 1 approach. Different teams playing in different markets, growing the fanbase around the entire world and I understand why.
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The Baltimore Ravens had just seven seconds to work with at the start of their drive – which proved to be just long enough to win the game in Brazil against the Dallas Cowboys
I’ve spoken to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell about this in the past and he’s told me that if we play in just one or two markets you only grow the fanbase in one or two markets. If you can play in 10, 11, 12 markets around the world then you’re growing significantly in a number of different countries, so it certainly looks like that’s the plan, but we still hear this talk of international franchises, potentially even a European division and the commissioner himself alluded to that this summer when in Germany.
I think the reason for that is that the NFL just doesn’t want to lose momentum. So they are keeping an open mind. Yes at the moment it’s the Formula 1 approach but if it works well enough in enough countries then does it become something else? Does it become something more substantial in London? Do we have a European division with a team in London, one in Germany, one in Spain, one in France?
When you look at it you can see the groundwork being laid for that.
I think if I were a betting man I wouldn’t necessarily know which way to go. I’ve seen very early on a lot of talk about a franchise, especially in London, then that went away to a degree and we looked at this Formula 1 approach of different teams in different countries.
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Highlights of the Baltimore Ravens at the Dallas Cowboys from Week 3 of the NFL season
But now the commissioner has put the franchise discussion back on the table which to me suggests the league is just focusing at the moment on continuing to grow fan numbers, continuing to grow interest, finding new fans and players through flag football and seeing where it goes in the future.
I don’t think they’re committed to one path or the other and it won’t hurt that we’re using the Formula 1 approach now and then pivot to something else later.
I tell you one thing, the commitment has never been greater among NFL owners and commissioner Roger Goodell to grow the game internationally.
It is one of the biggest things the NFL will be working on now and for many years to come and for us as fans of the game internationally that can only be good news for us.
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