NFL plans record nine international games

The NFL’s international schedule is turning into a much bigger thing than a side project. For 2026, the league is aiming for a record nine regular-season games outside the U.S., and a lot of the framework is already public even before the full schedule drops. That matters because these are not random one-offs anymore — they shape who loses a home date, who gets a showcase spot, and which matchups the league can actually use. The interesting part now is less “will there be overseas games?” and more “which games are still movable?” ### How many games are we talking about? Nine. That number has been attached to the 2026 slate by the league itself, and it would be the biggest international package the NFL has ever staged. The footprint is huge — four continents, seven countries, eight stadiums. So this is no longer just London plus one extra stop. It is a core scheduling layer. ### Which teams are already in? A decent chunk of the “home” side is already known. The Jaguars and Commanders are tied to the 2026 London games. The Jaguars will play twice at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and also return to Wembley Stadium, giving them two London home games plus a third U.K. appearance. Atlanta is attached to Madrid, Detroit to Munich, New Orleans to Paris, and the Rams to Melbourne. ### Why are the Jaguars such a big part of this? Because Jacksonville is carrying more of the overseas load than anyone else. The league announced back in February that the Jaguars would again be part of the London setup, and this time it includes back-to-back U.K. games for the third time. That is partly about the franchise’s long-running London ties, and partly about practical scheduling while EverBank Stadium is going through major renovations. ### So what is actually still unsettled? Mostly the opponents and the exact pairings. The league has announced participating teams for several sites, but not every matchup. One exception is Rio — during the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, the league announced Ravens vs. Cowboys for the 2026 game in Brazil on Sept. 27 at Maracanã Stadium. That gives one fully named international matchup, while several other games still have only one side confirmed. ### Where do the Eagles fit in? They are one of the logical candidates for an overseas trip because of the way the 2026 home-and-away matrix lines up. Reporting around the schedule build has pointed to Philadelphia as a possible Jaguars opponent in London or a possible fit for Madrid. But that is still in the “in play” bucket, not the confirmed bucket. The same basic story applies to a few other NFC teams that match the available host inventory. ### What was that Steelers-Jaguars wrinkle? Turns out schedule-making gets political fast. A report out Thursday said Jacksonville “protected” its home game against Pittsburgh, which effectively kept that matchup from being used in London. That tells you teams do have preferences about which inventory goes stateside. ### Why does this keep getting more complicated? Because every extra host city creates another constraint. The league is balancing stadium deals, local partners, time zones, competitive fairness, team marketing rights, and simple gate economics. A London game is not interchangeable with Melbourne or Paris. Once nine games are on the board, the schedule is less a puzzle and more a pressure test. ### Bottom line? The headline is not just “more international games.” It is that the NFL has built enough overseas infrastructure that these games now meaningfully shape the whole 2026 schedule. The broad map is set. The fight now is over the best matchups left on it.