Roger Goodell Makes Bold Statement About NFL Adding Franchise Outside USA

As the NFL continues to grow its popularity in foreign markets, commissioner Roger Goodell made his stance clear on the potential for overseas expansion in the future.

Speaking this week to Markus Kuhn of RTL/ntv in Germany (h/t Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk), Goodell said, "At some point, there will be NFL teams outside the USA. I have no doubt that this will happen one day."

Goodell went on to express his belief that the Super Bowl could be held outside the United States as well once that expansion occurs, saying, "There are definitely international cities that could host something like that. But we would like to see an NFL team in such a city first."

Goodell's comments don't come as a big surprise given the NFL's growing slate of international games over the years.

The NFL has annually held regular-season games in England since 2007 with the exception of 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but several additional countries have joined the fray since then.

Other nations to host NFL regular-season games include Mexico, Germany, Brazil, Spain and Ireland, and both Australia and France will join the list this season.

All told, a total of nine international games will be played during the 2026 NFL regular season, representing a new, single-season record for the league.

If an overseas NFL team does eventually come to pass, they will host eight or nine regular-season games per year, so having that many international games in total this season could serve as a trial run of sorts for the league regarding the viability of that amount of games being played internationally.