Roger Goodell is done hedging on international expansion. In an interview with former NFL player Markus Kuhn for German broadcaster RTL/ntv, the commissioner said permanent NFL franchises outside the United States are a matter of when, not if. "At some point, there will be NFL teams outside the USA. I have no doubt that this will happen one day," Goodell said.
Goodell extended the vision beyond regular-season football. Once a team is planted in a foreign city, he said, that city becomes eligible to host the Super Bowl. "There are definitely international cities that could host something like that," Goodell said. "But we would like to see an NFL team in such a city first."
The comments land as the NFL prepares for its largest international regular-season slate in league history. Nine games will be played outside the United States during the 2026 season—a new single-season record. Three are scheduled in England, with one each in Australia, Brazil, France, Spain, Germany and Mexico.
For context on how far that footprint has stretched: the NFL has played regular-season games in England annually since 2007, with one exception in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Spain and Ireland have all hosted games in the years since. Australia and France are joining that list for the first time this season.
The scale of nine international games in a single season is worth measuring against what an overseas franchise would actually require. An NFL team plays eight or nine home games per regular season. Running nine international games across the entire league in one year is the same volume a single foreign franchise would generate on its own every year. Goodell's office is stress-testing the infrastructure without committing to a team.
That framing—nine games spread across seven countries as a trial run—puts the 2026 season in a different light. It is not just a marketing exercise. It is the league learning whether foreign markets can absorb the operational load of hosting multiple games a year, every year, on a permanent basis. The answer the league gets from Australia's debut game, France's debut game and the expanded Germany slate will shape how quickly the expansion conversation moves.
The interview with Kuhn, a German national who played in the NFL, was itself a calculated choice. Germany has emerged as one of the league's most active international markets. Frankfurt hosted its first NFL regular-season game in 2022, and the country is back on the schedule again this season. Goodell chose a German platform to deliver his clearest expansion statement to date—the audience was not accidental.
On the franchise side, the NFL has not named a target city, announced a timeline or identified ownership groups for a potential international team. Goodell's comments establish intent, not a plan. The league's existing franchise structure, its collective bargaining agreement with the players' union, and its broadcast rights agreements would all require renegotiation before a foreign franchise could operate. None of those processes are in motion based on the source material.
The Super Bowl question is the most consequential piece of Goodell's comments. The game is the NFL's most valuable single event, and its host city generates significant economic activity during the surrounding week. Moving that event outside the United States—even once—would represent a departure from a format the league has run exclusively on domestic soil since the first Super Bowl in 1967. Goodell's condition is clear: a foreign team comes first, then a foreign Super Bowl becomes a real conversation.
The nine international games in 2026 represent the league's actual commitment. Everything else—franchises, Super Bowls, permanent foreign venues—follows from whether this season's record-setting international slate works.
