If you’re following the Steelers to every game, you better have a passport, because NFL international games are staying. In fact, not only are they staying, the NFL has every intention of expanding international play, and very, very soon.
Commissioner Roger Goodell recently discussed this subject with CNBC. The NFL is embarking on a broader slate of international games this season, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. “I do see 16 regular-season games, and I do think that will happen in the very near future”, he said, via Jessica Golden. “Within five years, probably”.
If the NFL plays 16 international games per season, that nearly ensures every team will play internationally every year. There are, after all, 32 teams, and you need two teams to play a game. Of course, some teams can play multiple international games, which the NFL is making the Vikings do this year. The Steelers will host them in Ireland in Week 4, and then Minnesota plays the Browns in London the following week.
In the past, the league has talked about even starting a franchise overseas or moving a franchise like the Jaguars over there. The NFL is using international games, very obviously, to attempt to expand its market. That is why the owners unanimously approved a proposal allowing NFL players to participate in the Olympics, the world’s preeminent sporting event.
The NFL is the major American team sport with the least amount of cultural cache around the world. Outside of, arguably, Canada, there is no other country with a major American-style football league. That has made brand expansion extremely difficult for what is otherwise the juggernaut of American sports. The NFL hopes that playing more international games will build that audience.
“International is an open market for us”, Goodell said about the NFL’s increase in games overseas. “We are excited about our potential”. The league has even assigned international regions to various teams, the Steelers, naturally, having Ireland.
As Golden noted, sports travel is also “a huge revenue driver, with sports-related travel representing more than $50 million annually and 10 percent of global tourism”. And the NFL just so happens to have a partnership with Marriott, which can provide accommodations for all of those international games. Wink, wink.
The NFL hasn’t had the Steelers play any international games before this season since 2013. That year, they traveled to London to play the Vikings, who promptly embarrassed them. In the intervening years, players criticized the team’s itinerary for contributing to their struggles. Cameron Heyward, who was on that team, discussed it again following the recent announcement. He said players and coaches were falling asleep after traveling late in the week.
