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When the NFL created Thursday Night Football in 2006, it was a package of five games late in the season. By 2012, TNF expanded to nearly every week of the season, and today it brings in $1 billion annually from Amazon, which exclusively streams the primetime matchups.
As the league begins its 2025 season, its series of international games may be on the same growth trajectory as TNF.
This fall, a record seven games will be played outside the U.S., beginning Friday night in Brazil, as YouTube streams its first exclusive game broadcast, Chiefs–Chargers. The U.K. will once again host three games, Germany will get another game, and the NFL will make its debut in Spain and Ireland. The NFL had the option of scheduling an eighth game abroad this season, but plans to return to Mexico were stalled, as renovations continue at Aztec Stadium.
Soon, the NFL’s international slate will likely be 16 games—a move commissioner Roger Goodell and several influential team owners have been bullish on in recent years.
“That’s probably on the horizon,” Falcons owner Arthur Blank said during an appearance on NFL Network during training camp in July. At the NFL’s spring meetings in March, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said the league “has a short-term goal of getting to eight, and maybe down the road as many as 16.” Goodell has been touting the potential for 16 games since last fall. In May, he told CNBC he thought that expansion could happen “within five years.”
Further international expansion will likely line up with the NFL adding an 18th regular-season game, which needs to be collectively bargained (the current CBA runs through the 2030 season). The league, which can opt out of most of its current $110 billion media rights deals after the 2029 season, is also expected to try and sell a TV package around its international schedule, which could be worth $1 billion annually.
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