The NFL is intent on playing a regular-season game on a fifth continent in the near future, as the league’s international expansion goals continue to grow.
Ahead of Sunday’s Vikings-Browns game in London, the first of three consecutive matchups in the city, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell laid out the current worldwide mindset of the league’s 32 owners.
“If you are going to be global, you have to do it beyond Europe, and beyond the Americas. You need to reach into other areas and territories,” Goodell said at the Leaders in Sports conference Thursday. “And next year we’re going to Australia. We have plans to go to Asia shortly thereafter.”
When the Rams host a to-be-determined opponent in Melbourne next season, it will mark the fourth continent on which the NFL has played a regular-season game, following the league’s debut in South America last year and its longstanding presence in Europe. Asia has been casually mentioned by Goodell and other league executives in recent years, but no specific timeline, cities, or countries under consideration have been given.
If the NFL reaches its goal of playing 16 international games per season—up from a record seven this season—a contest in Asia would seem to be nearly guaranteed. That expanded slate abroad could come just as the league ramps up to an 18-game regular season, should negotiations with the NFL Players Association lead to that.
The NFL will likely increase its international schedule to eight—the maximum currently allowed—next year with a return to Mexico, which Goodell confirmed will happen (Aztec Stadium in Mexico City has been unavailable while undergoing renovations ahead of the 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup). The NFL is making its debut in Spain this season, with a game in Madrid, and debuting in Berlin, the third German city to host a game.
The Middle East is also an area of interest for the NFL, evidenced by the United Arab Emirates being added to the league’s Global Market Programs this year, with the 49ers, Commanders, and Rams acquiring rights in the territory. “It’s really an ‘if’ in terms of whether we’ll play a game there,” NFL EVP of club business Peter O’Reilly said this spring. “But I will say that’s a market where there’s strong interest in our game.”
Japan and South Korea are currently the only Asian countries part of the Global Markets Program (the Rams are the only team with rights in those territories). In total, there are 21 countries that participate in the initiative, across every continent except Antarctica. While being a team acquiring rights in a country could eventually lead to a game being played there, it’s not a guarantee and not the entire point of the program.
