NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has hinted that the league also could have a future franchise based outside of the United States. File Photo by Aaron Josefczyk/UPI | License Photo
The NFL wants to hold a regular-season game in Japan, commissioner Roger Goodell said.
Goodell spoke about the idea during an interview with Sportico on Thursday in New York. The NFL will hold a record nine international games in 2026, including a Sept. 10 matchup in Melbourne.
“We did have a game in Tokyo, but it was a preseason game,” Goodell said. “So. we want to do a regular-season game now.”
Goodell responded with “I got about 10,” when asked if he had any countries in mind for future NFL contests.
International matchups will be held in London, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Madrid, Munich and Mexico City, in addition to Melbourne, in 2026.
Goodell previously said the NFL would like to hold 16 regular-season matchups outside of the United States.
NFL vice president Peter O’Reilly previously mentioned Japan, Italy and Africa as possible future sites after team owners voted to approve an increase to 10 international games starting in 2027.
“We’ve identified markets beyond these that we think would be great,” O’Reilly said in May on the Up & Adams Show.
“Australia is obviously a sports-crazed market. You think about parts of the world we haven’t played a game and don’t have a year-round presence and that includes markets in Asia. You know, a market like Japan, which again, very different, but it is a unique culture.
“Italy [is] where two of our clubs, the New Orleans Saints and Cleveland Browns, have rights via the global markets program.”
Goodell also said in the past that he wouldn’t rule out an international Super Bowl, but hinted that that wouldn’t happen until a future NFL franchise is based outside of the United States. He said in February that was “very possible.”
“I don’t take international expansion off the table,” Goodell said during an interview with Westwood One. “I think that’s very possible someday.”
The defending champion Seattle Seahawks will host the New England Patriots in a Super Bowl LX rematch to open the 2026 regular season. That game will kick off Sept. 9 in Seattle.
The San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams will launch the 2026 international slate a day later, when they play at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
