After 15 years of holding games in England, the NFL finally let another European country host a game this year (Germany) and after watching the immense success of that game, the NFL is now looking at the possibility of letting two more European countries host games in the near future.
During a recent interview with the Associated Press, Brett Gosper, the NFL's head of UK and Europe, revealed that the league is eyeing both Spain and France as international spots that could end up hosting regular-season games.
"They're two very healthy media markets, healthy sports markets, some strong indicators from our streaming platform as well as from our consumer sales," Gosper said of why the league is looking at those two locations in particular. "When you mine the data a little bit, they certainly are two markets with high potential."
The NFL handed out international marketing rights to multiple teams in December 2021 and although no team was given France, both the Dolphins and Bears were given rights to Spain, which would likely make one or both team an attractive choice when it comes to picking a team to play there.
That being said, nothing has been finalized in either country and Gosper noted that the NFL still has a lot of work to do before making any decisions.
"We need to do our homework to make sure that there is the possibility of a place to land any games in those markets, gauge interest of the host stadia, gauge interest of the host city, even the government, as to their enthusiasm to help us bring a game," Gosper said.
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When it comes to hosting an NFL game, one key thing that each country must have is a stadium that can handle it. Gosper said that the league will be taking a look around the world to see what the options are.
"Certainly, in the next six months to 12 months we'll be really testing the viability of our options from a stadium point of view -- not just in Europe but elsewhere -- and then at the same time in parallel seeing what the appetite is for clubs to potentially exploit those markets with a game," Gosper said.
Although Spain and France are the favorites to land an international game, they're not the only options. Gosper noted that Sweden could eventually host a game. According to NBC Sports, the Rams have also been pushing to get a game in Australia. Five years ago, Sydney actually made a bid to host the 2017 Pro Bowl.
As the NFL looks to expand from an international standpoint, one thing won't be changing: London and Germany will be keeping their games. The Buccaneers' 21-16 Week 10 win over the Seahawks in Munich was the league's first regular-season game ever in Germany and the NFL is contracted to play at least three more games in the country with two in Frankfurt and one more in Munich.
For the 2022 season, the NFL scheduled five
