Courtesy of Tony Hisgett
Football is by far the most popular sport on Earth, but a competitor is approaching on the horizon; also football, just the American kind. While football, or soccer, has held global dominance for hundreds of years, its American counterpart is trying to bridge the gap and make American football a popular pastime outside of the 50 states. The National Football League (NFL) and its commissioner, Roger Goodell, have massive aspirations for the sport and have made major investments in bringing international talent to the league while exporting the infrastructure for international leagues abroad. The NFL’s strategy abroad is led by the NFL International Pathway Program, NFL International Games, the NFL Academy, and the introduction of Flag Football as an Olympic sport. All of these programs have been gaining steam in the past few years and their influence has not yet made inroads with the mass media as injury issues and officiating difficulties take up most of the headlines. The ability to reach international audiences and talent pools should only continue to grow the number of international players in the NFL and increase the number of yellow goal posts in parks around the globe.
NFL International Pathway Program
International talent is not new to the NFL, with players from outside of the United States suiting up since 1907 with John and Phil Nesser, two German-born multi-position athletes playing for the Columbus Panhandles. The NFL’s Hall of Fame also has nine international players immortalized in Canton, including linebacker Ted Hendricks from Guatemala and kicker Morten Andersen, who is also the second-oldest player to ever be rostered in the NFL at 47 years old. The rich history of international players in the league led the NFL to launch the International Pathway Program in 2017 as a way to funnel athletes from abroad into better positions to compete for roster space. Almost 100 players have participated in the program with over 40 of them going on to sign with NFL teams. Currently, there are 23 players in the league who have gone through the program, including 2024 second-team all-pro tackle Jordan Mailata from Australia and six-year fullback Jakob Johnson from Germany. As of 2024, over half of NFL teams have signed an international player due to the program showing just how much talent the league is pulling from abroad in such a short period of time. As a member of the program, players participate in a 10-week training camp at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida with an International Combine scheduled in October for players to showcase their physical traits in front of general managers and coaching staffs from around the league.
NFL International Games
The NFL’s most public attempt at pulling in notoriety from abroad is by playing games outside of the U.S. This started on Oct. 2, 2005, with the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers dueling it out in front of a crowd of 103,500 in Mexico City. The Cardinals won 31-14 in a lopsided beat-down but the game proved successful enough for the NFL to renew games abroad for the next two decades and counting. While the Cardinals vs. 49ers matchup was the first regular-season game played abroad, the NFL had been playing preseason games in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Canada, Japan, Mexico, and Australia since 1986. The success of international games has hit new heights in the past three years with the most viewed international game of all time coming on Nov. 15, 2023, in Germany with a 21-14 win for the Kansas City Chiefs over the Miami Dolphins. This season has been especially successful for international games, with the five games already played pulling in more than 5.5 million viewers each. The first international game came on September 5 with an upset as the L.A Chargers took down the Kansas City Chiefs 27-21 in São Paulo, Brazil. Hosted on Friday, the match pulled in 19.7 million viewers, but the stadium was full of 47,600 fans, creating a fantastic atmosphere in just the second game played in Brazil. The next game, the Minnesota Vikings vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers on September 28 in Dublin, Ireland, was the second most-watched international game, up 68% viewership from the average international game in 2024, with 7.9 million viewers as well as 75,500 in-person viewers. With a 24-21 Steelers victory, the Vikings had a chance at redemption abroad with the second of their back-to-back international games, with a short one-hour flight across the Irish Sea to play the Cleveland Browns the next week on October 5. The Vikings were able to take this home in a 21-17 victory that brought in 6.7 million viewers, the third most-watched international game and the most-watched London game with an additional 61,100 viewers in the stands. The Vikings-Browns game was the first of three London games scheduled this season—the second was an unfortunately boring matchup between the Denver Broncos and New York Jets that ended in a 13-11 victory for Denver. Even with the unfortunate game on the field, the matchup brought in 5.7 million viewers with 61,200 in the stadium, logging the second-most-watched London game ever. The final of the London games came on October 19 with a 35-7 blowout of the Jacksonville Jaguars by the LA Rams. With the Jaguars playing the most international games of any NFL franchise at 14, it would be expected that they would have fared better in London, their home away from home. The Jag’s unfortunate loss came in front of 5.5 million viewers with 86.2 thousand watching at the historic Wembley Stadium. The Atlanta Falcons took on the Indianapolis Colts in the NFL’s first regular-season game in Berlin on November 9 for a matchup with major playoff implications. A back-and-forth game ended in overtime 31-25 in favor of Indianapolis. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has expressed the desire to play up to 16 international games in a season, however, the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) allows a maximum of 10 games in a season. With the CBA not expiring until the end of the 2030-31 season, there likely won’t be a dramatic increase in the number of international games for at least the next half-decade. To keep international games interesting, the NFL is introducing a new location in 2026, Melbourne, Australia. It will be the first-ever regular-season game played in Australia and begins the NFL’s gateway to finding fans in the Asia-Pacific region. For the rest of the season, we still have one more international game with the Washington Commanders taking on the Dolphins for the first regular-season game in Madrid, Spain on November 16.
NFL Academy
While the International Pathway Program is meant for older athletes entering their athletic prime to find their way into the game, the league also launched the NFL Academy in May of 2019 as a way for younger athletes to build their skills. The program’s mission statement, as listed on the NFL Academy website is, “This major initiative by the NFL is an elite football development program for student-athletes. It looks to combine full-time education with transformative life skills and character development, alongside intensive training in American Football.” Thus far, the Academy has two programs: the NFL Academy Europe-Africa housed at Loughborough College & University in England and the NFL Academy Asia-Pacific at A.B. Paterson College in Australia. The academy has already led to over 40 students securing college scholarships to play football in the U.S., with 27 Academy alumni playing DI football this college season. The Europe-Africa Academy also has eight combines scheduled between November and early 2026 in Madrid, Montreal, France, Munich, London, Monterrey, Mexico City, and Loughborough for 15-18-year-old athletes. The Asia-Pacific Academy, launched in 2024, does not have any listed combines. The Academy also competes in two games in November, with the first against the Mexican Academy and the second against Madrid U-21 All-Star.
Flag Football in the 2028 Olympics
While not an NFL-specific program, flag football was announced as an Olympic sport in the 2028 LA Olympics with countries preparing their qualifying teams over the next few years. Flag football has been gaining popularity as a safer alternative to the injury-riddled tackle version. Flag football has also made many inroads with women and girls, with women’s teams popping up at colleges around the country and competitive teams in Mexico and Japan. The U.S. and Mexico teams are both vying to be the best women’s flag football team in the world, while the U.S. men’s team is attempting to fend off their Italian and Austrian counterparts.
