With the concludes its international series on Sunday with the Panthers And Giants In Germany, those responsible for the league continue to focus on international expansion in the coming years.
Outside London, where the Since the country has focused its activities on international activities for years, Australia is the country where the NFL invests the most. Sources tell CBS Sports that the NFL could host a regular season game on the island continent as early as the 2026 season, and the NFL has considered playing the Pro Bowl games down under at some point in the future.
Although the NFL is expanding its international games to eight for the 2025 season, it is expected that Australia – particularly Sydney and Melbourne – will have to wait another year for a game. The NFL has conducted site visits in both cities as it continues to work through logistical hurdles.
Although the time difference is greater than any other country currently explored by the league – Sydney is 16 hours ahead of Eastern Time – the NFL is keen to travel to Australia for a regular-season game. Consider the investments the league has made there: In 2022, the nfl named New Zealand native Charlotte Offord as general manager for its Australian efforts. In September this year, the league opened an nfl academy on Australia's Gold Coast that will develop student-athletes ages 12 to 18.
The Australian academy is the second international academy to sponsor the league, after the United Kingdom. A “high-performance elite NFL academy facility on existing college campuses” will be completed in Australia by 2026, the league announced earlier this year.
Australia is attractive to the NFL for several reasons. There is a vibrant sports scene there and there is no language barrier. It differs from the European expansion the league has sought, and no other major American sports league has entered the market.
“When you start talking about Asia, the Pacific and Australia, you talk about distance and logistics and the football component of it,” Peter O'Reilly, the NFL's director of international affairs, said in May. “So these factors are real. But our job is to really look at the world, find out where the fan base is strong and do the due diligence and make the assessments.”
Most Australian-born players in the NFL were or are specialists, especially punters. The biggest success (in the truest sense of the word) was eagle offensive tackle Jordan Mailataa former seventh-round pick who earlier this year became one of the highest-paid offensive linemen in NFL history based on average annual salary. The Eagles are one of two teams with international marketing rights for Australia Aries be the other. It stands to reason that one or both of these teams would be involved in the eventual regular season game there.
And with Australian rules football and rugby being the country's main sports, there is the thought that American football would not be and is not so unknown to Australians.
The NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell did not shy away from the international push. While an international team (or a split of teams) is not being considered, Goodell recently made headlines when he floated the idea of a London . Sources across the league have since spoken of an international player is not rightly on the league’s agenda.
But the NFL hopes to offer a full international schedule in the coming years. Next year the league will be able to play up to eight international games and there is a desire for 16 international competitions with all 32 teams eventually playing outside the country.
Next year, the NFL will play games in London, Spain, Brazil, Germany, Mexico and Ireland. Among the cities where the NFL has conducted additional site investigations These include Abu Dhabi, Paris, Barcelona, Rome and Dublin.
There has also been some discussion about hosting the Pro Bowl Games in Australia at a later date.
The NFL played the Pro Bowl exclusively in Hawaii between 1980 and 2016 for all but two years. It has since traveled to Orlando (2017-2019) and Las Vegas (2022 and 2023), without playing a game in 2020 due to the COVID-19 crisis. 19 Pandemic. This year's event will return to Orlando and will be held one week before Super Bowl LIX.
More specifically, the NFL redesigned the Pro Bowl two years ago to include skills competitions, and the league turned the game into a flag football competition. The league has been a leader in push flag football for years, and flag football has been selected as an Olympic sport for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
It is the first time that American football is part of the Olympic program, but it is a so-called discretionary event. That means it doesn't have a permanent place in the Olympic schedule and can be scrapped, similar to how breakdancing won't be part of the 2028 Games.
A postseason All-Star Weekend in Australia would also benefit the NFL's efforts to expand flag football, particularly in the Olympics. The 2032 Games will be held in Brisbane and the NFL needs momentum to see flag football in a second straight Olympics.
And as a source pointed out, the Aussies will likely want to choose events where they can win medals since it is a voluntary event. By the 2032 Games, the NFL's efforts in the country will be a decade old. By then, American football – and also flag football – should be well known in the country. And a little excitement from seeing the world's best players play flag football at their all-star event years before would probably help the cause.
By the way, it is still unclear whether NFL players will be allowed to take part in the 2028 Olympic Games. Sources believe no decision will be made on this until the end of this year, but there is hope for more clarity in 2025.
