Touching Down: How the NFL is Becoming the International Football League 🏈
By combining marquee matchups in key markets with long-term investment in grassroots, talent development, and year-round engagement, the league is laying the foundation for sustainable global growth.
19 March 2025
The National Football League (NFL) is expanding its global footprint in a way that few leagues have attempted before.
This year, the league announced a significant increase in international games, adding Dublin, Melbourne, Madrid, Berlin, and São Paulo to the schedule.
From 2025, the number of international games will jump from four to eight per season, with every team now required to host at least two games abroad over an eight-year period.
Balancing international growth while protecting the home fanbase is a challenge. Some fans will always feel that a new market’s gain is their loss.
The NFL has so far minimised that pushback by ensuring teams aren’t losing home fixtures outright, expanding the regular season to accommodate more games instead.
“I think we've been fortunate that the increase in the number of games has come with an increase in regular season games … from preseason games being shifted into the season,” explained Brett Gosper, Head of NFL Europe & APAC, on the Sports Pundit Podcast.As a result, “fans have not felt they've lost games [as] there's been an increase in inventory into the regular season in the recent years as well.”
There is even ongoing discussion at ownership level about expanding the regular season to 18 games, creating further inventory for international expansion without cutting into the existing domestic schedule.
Of course, by increasing fixtures there is still a risk of dilution, a problem the NFL has avoided compared to many counterparts where focus has shifted primarily to the play-offs.
Another unique distinction for the league is that its global push isn’t a free-for-all.
While you’ll see leading European football clubs activating wherever they see fit, leading to competition among them for market share, the NFL has a much more controlled approach through its Global Markets Program.
“[Teams] apply to the league. They show a really coherent and deep marketing commercial plan. The league looks at that and then, decides if that's a program which merits it moving into the market and operating at that time,” explains Gosper.
Rather than letting teams scatter across the world, the NFL requires them to apply for global rights, committing to long-term investment in one of the league’s 12-13 priority markets. This ensures expansion is strategic rather than fragmented. We've seen now 25 clubs in 19 markets operating in this way.
This has its pros and cons. These franchises operate year-round, building connections through marketing, grassroots initiatives, and local partnerships. However, fandom doesn’t always fit neatly into designated territories. Some teams, particularly those with star players or recent dominance, will naturally develop fanbases worldwide.
Despite wanting to build long-term market presence, the NFL has no plans to launch a secondary league abroad like the NBA’s Basketball Africa League.
“There's a European league that the NFL was funding a while back and it had some success and it certainly, I think, has laid some foundation, particularly in Germany, where most of those teams were playing, to create some resonance in the market.”However, Gosper went on to explain that, “ fans these days want to see the best of the best. Focusing our efforts on merchandising and raising the profile of the key premier league, which is the NFL, would seem to be a better route for us to create that interest globally.”
As well as bringing elite competition to new markets, the league understands the importance of growing participation, a key driver of fandom.
Flag football is central to that effort. With the sport set to debut at the LA28 Olympics, the NFL sees it as an accessible way to introduce new fans and athletes to American football.
“ I saw this at World Rugby when rugby was named as Olympic sport in 2009 and entered the Olympic arena in 2016 in Rio, the excitement and growth engine that that provided, I'm seeing that for flag football now.”
Beyond flag participation, the NFL is also developing player pathways through two regional academies, one in Loughborough (UK) and another on the Gold Coast (Australia), designed to help non-traditional American football nations produce NFL-ready players.
That investment is already showing some results. Over 85 foreign-born players recorded a snap in the 2024 season.
Furthermore, more than 300 players and coaches take part in the Heritage Program, which allows them to display a second nationality flag on their helmets. We’ve seen Chelsea and England midfielder Cole Palmer do similar, proudly displaying the St Kitts and Nevis flag on his boots.
“ Those flags get picked up in those markets and noted that connection again provides relevance to those fans,” says Gosper.
The logic is clear: more homegrown stars and talent that is tied to various regions around the world, means more engaged fans in those regions.
Success for the NFL isn’t only about selling out stadiums abroad. The league’s long-term view is about increasing fandom, particularly among Gen-Z, while driving commercial growth in key markets.
“The NFL takes a long view on our progress,” says Gosper. “ Success is seeing significant growth in our fan base in markets, particularly in that younger age group, which is important for our future … and, over time, commercialising that fan base and monetising it in a positive way.”
In markets like the UK and Germany, the NFL already outperforms traditional local sports among younger demographics. The reason? The league has provided a physical touchpoint to consumers whilst also embracing digital platforms, creators, and new broadcast models. From Netflix streaming Christmas Day games to expanded YouTube partnerships, the NFL has adapted to how young audiences consume sports content.
By combining marquee matchups in key markets with long-term investment in grassroots, talent development, and year-round engagement, the league is laying the foundation for sustainable global growth.