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Congratulations to NFL fans in nine cities across America! Commissioner Roger Goodell has just given you the proverbial one finger salute.
The man in charge of America’s fall pro football league has no problem asking you to pay up, shut-up, and watch meaningless August preseason football games at your NFL stadium every year.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Goodell and his band of merry billionaire owners have just pilfered a league record nine regular season home games this fall and moved them them overseas. That’s two more games than in 2025 and four more than in 2024 or previous years.
Notice the trend?
I was excited a few weeks ago in reviewing the list of 2026 NFL opponents for each team. My two favorite black and gold NFL teams (the New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers) were slated to play this fall in the Louisiana Superdome.
Until…
The greedy NFL pirated the Saints’ Week 7 home game against the Steelers and moved it to be played…in Paris, France!??
Sacre Bleu!
Yes, we know that French explorers founded New Orleans in 1718. In 1803, the United States acquired the city and a vast region located west of the Mississippi River in what became known as the Louisiana Purchase for a bargain price of $15 million.
New Orleans’ tourist appeal relies heavily on its French roots. The city’s famous French Quarter features street signs reminding visitors and locals of the city’s French history.
You can stroll down Rue Royale (Royal Street) to enjoy a few biegnets and Community Coffee at Cafe Du Monde.
Magnifique!
Even the New Orleans Saints’ team logo features a French fleur de lis.
Yes, I will begrudgingly give credit to someone in the NFL’s scheduling office for coming up with the idea of sending the New Orleans Saints to play a game in Paris.
But why did the NFL rob Saints fans of a chance to watch our beloved WhoDats play the vaunted Pittsburgh Steelers in the Superdome?
Saints fans wouldn’t be nearly as torqued if the league had selected a different home game this fall against (let’s say) the Cleveland Browns or Las Vegas Raiders.
C’est parti pour les Steelers… (Here we go Steelers…)
Pittsburgh Steelers fans aren’t necessarily thrilled about moving the road game in New Orleans all the way to France, either. The six-time Super Bowl champions have one of the NFL’s largest traveling contingents.
Visitors to New Orleans in late October are treated to some of the best weather of the year in the Crescent City. Local hotels, restaurants, bars and retailers are going to miss cashing-in on 10,000 or more fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers that weekend, too.
Thanks for nothing, NFL!
The Week 7 game on October 25 in Paris, France will probably still feature thousands of Terrible Towels being waved by fans in attendance.
You have to wonder how much money those French football fans will be charged to buy them, though.
This migration onto the world stage by the NFL is quite deliberate
Commissioner Roger Goodell (it’s OK to “boo” right here) first sent the Arizona Cardinals to play a regular season NFL game vs. the San Francisco 49ers in Mexico City in 2005. Since then, the league has continued to add more and more regular season games played outside of the United States.
London is the leader in number of NFL games played outside the continental United States.
A total of 48 NFL games have been played in London since 2007. In fact, a minimum of two NFL games have been played in London annually since 2013.
This year will feature three consecutive weeks of NFL regular season games being played in London during October.
But why?
The unfortunate Jacksonville Jaguars have been dispatched to London a total of 14 times over the past 13 seasons. As usual, J-ville travels to Jolly ol’ England again this fall. The Jaguars are scheduled to play the Philadelphia Eagles on October 11 in London.
Many observers (including me) believe that the Jacksonville NFL franchise is going to be relocated to London at some point in the not-too-distant future.
Germany has become a popular recent destination for NFL teams. Five games have already been played on German soil since 2022. The New England Patriots and Detroit Lions will play in Munich this season on November 15.
Mexico City has hosted four NFL regular season games since 2016. The Minnesota Vikings and San Francisco 49ers will play a Sunday night game in Mexico City on November 22.
Brazil will host its third NFL regular season game in three years.
The Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys will play in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, September 27.
Australia gets its first NFL game, too. The San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams are being dispatched to Melbourne for a Week 1 encounter on September 10.
Rounding out the NFL’s frequent flier schedule will be the Cincinnati Bengals and Atlanta Falcons flying to Madrid, Spain for a game on November 8.
The NFL’s nine game international schedule is a new record. There were seven games played overseas in 2025 and “just” five in 2024.
Have you figured out why the NFL is doing this?
If you guessed, “To make even more money!”, you are correct!
Don’t believe the NFL’s baloney about “growing the game internationally”. It’s all about this massive financial private enterprise growing their already bloated bank accounts.
The NFL earns millions from the ticket sales, concessions, merchandise, and rights it receives to play regular season games in international venues.
Even more importantly, the league is setting the proverbial hooks right now. They want millions of new international fans to become addicted to American pro football each fall.
These countries represent fresh sources of potential income for the NFL.
Online broadcasters such as Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, YouTube, Peacock, and Paramount+ are expected to generate massive new international revenue sources for the NFL.
Math lesson – How many people are watching these online providers in the US and other countries?
These numbers may surprise you. Let’s start with Netflix.
According to one source, these six countries have the most Netflix subscribers:
USA – 66.7 million
United Kingdom – 18.4 million
Brazil – 16.6 million
Germany – 16.6 million
Mexico – 13.9 million
France – 13.6 million
Purely by coincidence (cough), the NFL will be playing at least one regular season football game in each of those countries this fall!
Did you know that Amazon Prime Video has more than 160 million viewers in the United States alone? It is already available in 240 other countries worldwide.
As for YouTube, I was surprised to learn that India is their number one country for viewership with 491 million YouTubers. They claim that the US has 253 million YouTube customers. Next comes Brazil (144 mm), Mexico (84 mm), and Japan (79 mm).
Peacock (owned by NBC Universal) boasts of 36 million mostly-US subscribers.
Paramount + (which also owns CBS) claims have 79 million subscribers in 29 different countries.
Traditional NFL television outlets better watch out – soon!
That villainous NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (feel free to “boo” him again here) dropped hints recently that the NFL may utilize its right to opt-out of several existing television deals as early as the fall, 2029 football season.
The NFL’s current TV deals began in 2021 and run for 11 years. That means that Fox Sports, CBS, and NBC should be “safe” through the football year 2032.
Maybe.
A voluntary renegotiation with one or more of the current broadcasters to extend their deals (at a significantly higher price, of course) may be underway even now.
The NFL has begun receiving greater pushback from the public recently.
Last week, restaurant and bar associations in Iowa and Wisconsin demanded congressional investigations as to the NFL’s “one-size-fits-all” new distribution plan for its Sunday Ticket package. The NFL will provide just one untested internet-based online distribution this fall after retail customers enjoyed years of service via satellite.
Smartly, the football giant wants to avoid closer oversight now as franchise owners focus on a gigantic pot of international gold on the horizon.
The crafty NFL is playing a game of chess with football fans and US broadcasters
There is no reason for the NFL to push too hard right now. Franchise owners are booking record profits. The NFL doesn’t have a viable competitor trying to steal some of their massively popular pro football audiences.
Yet.
The NFL has built a 32-team professional football monopoly in the United States. It is seeking to expand its empire worldwide and reap even greater profits and franchise valuations.
Football fans can still have the last laugh
The NFL has slowly grown interest in its product over several decades. Traditional television networks now have advertisers salivating to reach an average of 19 million mostly male viewers generally within the prime buying demographic of ages 25 to 49.
The NFL has quietly grown a new audience.
Millions of casual and professional gamblers are now wagering on weekly NFL games via a variety of online betting providers.
Tapping into the international market is another attempt by this behemoth sports enterprise called the NFL to expand its financial reach into more untapped markets.
“Joe NFL Fan” in the United States must prepare for these changes. Should he spend more money to start watching a growing portion of his weekly slate of NFL games online or simply go on an NFL TV diet soon?
Barring any new fall football competition, the NFL appears confident that the loss of any former US-based viewers will be minimal when compared to adding millions of new international customers.
This process is unfolding right in front of your eyes like a deliberate game of chess.
The NFL confidently believes they have you trapped.
They have not declared, “Checkmate” just yet.
The giant sports enterprise called the NFL is going to eventually force you to start paying to watch their product soon. Or, you can opt out and enjoy your weekends without the NFL.
Those choices are coming – sooner than you think.