The NFL held five games outside the U.S. in 2022, including a debut in Germany. The success of that endeavor has led to the expectation that more international games will be staged in the coming years, but a more drastic step could also be coming. 
The creation of a four-team, all-European division has come up in discussion, and is apparently picking up steam, as noted by A.J. Perez of Front Office Sports. One anonymous owner went as far as to say, “we don’t know if it’s going to happen in two years, five years, or whenever, but there’s going to be an international division.”
The idea of an NFL team operating in London in particular dates back several years. The league targeted having a team based there by 2022 at one point, though that has not come to fruition. That city has, however, hosted most of the games played abroad since the International Series began in 2007. Every NFL team has played outside the U.S. since then, and squads will continue to do so especially with a 17-game schedule in place.
“I think what we are focused on is building capacity so if there were that opportunity — whether a club wanted to consider relocation or potentially looking at expansion — we are in that mode,” NFL executive VP Peter O’Reilly said recently. “In London, where we’ve been for a long time, and now in Germany, we’re making sure we’ve got the stadium partners, the governmental partners, and the fan support to sustain that possibility.”
A single team playing abroad, let alone four, would obviously present a number of logistical challenges. On the other hand, expansion in particular would represent an avenue for a major new revenue stream. Perez notes that expansion fees in the range of $3 to $5 billion could be seen, something which would offset the existing franchises losing out on a portion of the money they bring in through media rights deals.
The NFL last expanded in 2002 with the Texans, and have not added multiple teams at once since 1995 when the Panthers and Jaguars arrived. No more than two franchises have entered the league at any one time, so the creation of an all-European division could be historic in more ways than one. While nothing is imminent, momentum seems to continue building towards such an idea becoming a reality down the road.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the single stupidest, greediest and most tone deaf, “screw the people” idea in the history of sports as we know it.
Eh, a division makes sense compared to having an existing division’s teams have to play overseas 2+ times. Truth be told, I think the best solution is to have a whole league in Europe, then have the champion of that league play the Super Bowl winner. People can have their cake and eat it too – Europe can experience high level football, and any fans who dislike the new format still get a Super Bowl without the added concerns of frequent international travel for some teams.
I really hope Rob Manfred didn’t read your comment and tell somebody to hold his beer.
This is an absolutely idiotic idea.
Wouldn’t they have to expand the league by 8 teams all in one off-season? Lol. The conferences would need to remain even.
How would you even do the playoffs?
How would Thursday Night Football be handled? Short weeks are already hard on players, and let’s not forget there was recently talk of wanting the option to flex games on Thursday nights.
I could go on, and on, and on…
Good luck landing free agents
How would this even work playoff wise? If you add 4 in Europe you almost have to add 4 in the states. Or eliminate a division and realign but then you would have uneven amount of teams in each division. I know that is not critical but rally does not sound like this has been thought out very well. NFL Europe failed because no one showed up to the games. Just imagine if the the Frankfurt team goes 1-16. They will be abandoned fast. The NFL lost 400 million with NFL Europe. Yes potentially the players will be better but that is just the roll of the dice like any expansion team there is no guarantee that team will ever be good.
does anyone remember NFL Europe in the early 90s? they’ve tried this twice before but failed.. I bet though if they had bigger player names the league could exist.
That was ne of the main reasons failed. European fans realized they weren’t seeing the same quality of players.
Bad idea. Just chasing the almighty buck.
The only possible way that this could have a breath of a chance to succeed would be, as stated, to have an entire European division unto itself. Teams traveling long distances is already a logistical issue, but most teams already do the cross pond jaunt to London once a year or every couple, so, while impractical, that is possible. However, the real challenge scheduling-wise is the playoff bracket. The current idiotic setup takes away the extra slot that could have been awarded to the new division’s winner. This division won’t fit neatly into the current conference mapping, and may be best left effectively on its own, which creates additional issues in terms of categorizing. The most effective way to make that fit would be to add two divisions, one for each conference, which would a massive undertaking with very far reaching consequences.
The NFL will have to accept that they won’t be able to expect anywhere near the same profit margin or size of operation for these franchises. They’ve come a massively long way in terms of the European interest in football, but they’re leagues away (no pun intended) from having a self-sustaining presence there. Having four teams in close proximity operating on a smaller scale than the old NFL Europa would make it easier, but the NFL is used to otherworldly profits, sinfully lavish theatrics, and overpriced merchandise. You can’t import that level of popularity into an audience that is not used to the product. They’re going to have to accept that the Europeans, like Americans back in the day, are going to have to be served a less lavish product until they’re committed enough to support it. I do not think that the NFL has the patience to allow the product to develop organically.
Additionally, all of the players will have to be American if these franchises are to compete against NFL competition. The natural logistical disadvantages and lack of extensive fanbases will already make competition harder. If the franchises are bad, on top of all their other challenges, it will hurt their chances immensely. And having that whole division means that the franchises will have to succeed together-if even one fails, it’ll jeopardize the entire project. That brings us to the most important part-the owners. The NFL will need to find four owners who are committed to those teams, are competent enough to run them, and have the patience to stick with them. It’s hard enough to do that now, in the States, even armed with the NFL’s current popularity.
Europeans don’t tend to like contact as much as Americans do, for the most part-of course there are exceptions, but the NFL needs numbers-so I could easily see the sport softened even more to raise chances. I don’t dislike the idea of a more global football world, and I like the idea of Europe being included. But it seems as if the NFL may be better served buying a stake in another, smaller league and helping it develop than expecting these franchises to have equal footing to current NFL teams in an overseas market. Those L.A. to Frankfurt flights are going to be brutal.
It sounds like it would be very hard to sustain. I remember attending the World Bowl for the WLAF in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1996 between the Frankfurt Galaxy and the Scotland Claymores. The fans enjoyed the game and Scotland’s victory, but the league could never come close to the success of the Premier League any more than MLS (or NASL back in the day) could here.
I don’t think the NFL realizes that most of the European fans that went to the games were expecting the “other football.”
They’re well aware the Europeans know it’s American football. The Super Bowl has a tremendous audience worldwide, so they know what they’re getting, which is part of the reason Spring leagues didn’t do as well since they knew they weren’t getting the best talent.
He knows that. It was just poor attempt at humor. Forgive him.
You would just need current teams to agree m. Having a division over there would result in 22 times American teams would have to to Europe per season
No matter where they expand, they’re not enough pro level talent coming out of college now to support the current 32 teams. Just looking at QB’s:
AFC East: Josh Allen
AFC N: Burrow, maybe Lamar and Watson. But both were average last year. More name sake in my opinion.
AFC S: T Lawrence
AFC W: Mahomes. Maybe Herbert. More hype than wins in my opinion.
NFC E: J Hurts
NFC N: Rodgers, but he was clearly in decline last season
NFC S: (crickets)
NFC W: anyone as well?
We don’t know this rookie class, but why would it differ from all the others? 1 might turn out to be good to great and a few will be destined to be career backups. Happens every year. I came up with 9 good to great QB’s & some of those I was hesitant to list.
As far as bad ideas go, this ranks up there with the decision in 1985 to change the soft drink Coke into “New Coke”. The public backlash was unpresedented.
Goodell is just looking for a way to get Kaepernick back into the league.
NFL just STOP!!! Dumb, they don’t care about our football, just futbol.
Tbere are not enough legit QB’s for the teams already in the league. Lets add more!!!
The level of pure greed here is disgusting. This will be nothing but bad for the sport. If the NFL wants to keep expanding, and actually make the sport better..go start a minor/developmental league. The XFL doesn’t work Bcs it isn’t affiliated with the NFL. Seriously tho, how much money is enough NFL?! The average fan doesn’t think unfettered greed is cute.
Should expand in the states before expanding in Europe. Whether it be states with teams already but untapped markets or states that don’t have teams but either have successful college fan bases or already sport a pro team or don’t have any pro teams. Tons of options in the states to expand.
San Diego. Virginia/West Virginia, New Mexico, South Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, Oklahoma, Utah.
If you want international Mexico and Canada stand out as options and don’t mess with existing time zones as much.
I always thought that Mexico would be a more logical starting place for international expansion than Wurope. I don’t have near as much hostility to European expansion philosophically as many others, but the logistical issues alone are staggering. Of course, the States are pretty large on their own-the flight from L.A. or Seattle to, say, Jacksonville is comparable to the flight from New York to London. West Coast to Europe is much more strenuous, however, than most places in America to Mexico City.
Awesome, let’s just dilute the talent pool further! There’s such a thing as “too much of a good thing”just stop with this nonsense!
There aren’t enough good players to fill even half the rosters in the league. Can you imagine paying good money for a ticket to watch your team roll out Colt McCoy or EJ Manue as your starting QB every week?
The NFL’s solution to that is already apparent-just water down the rules. Easier defense=better offense (erm, the “illusion of”, at least).