MELBOURNE — The NFL is breaking new ground this week with its first regular-season game on Australian soil, but Commissioner Roger Goodell is already looking years past it. In an exclusive interview with CNBC ahead of Thursday night’s Week 1 matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams, Goodell framed long-range planning as a requirement of the job rather than a luxury.
“Whether it’s media, or whether it’s labor, or whether it’s our international plans or what we’re doing with stadiums, all of that [requires] taking a 5-, 10-, 15-year look, and it’s critical to do that,” Goodell said. “If you’re not, you’re being irresponsible.”
The game at Melbourne kicks off at 8:35 pm ET. Netflix holds the global broadcast rights to the contest, a detail that fits neatly into the league’s broader push to expand its media footprint beyond U.S. borders.
A Contract That Lines Up With the CBA
Earlier this month, the 67-year-old Goodell signed a four-year extension that keeps him as commissioner through March 2031. This season is his 20th on the job, a tenure that has included adding a 17th regular-season game and shifting media rights toward streaming platforms.
Few initiatives, though, loom as large in his long-term thinking as the international slate. The league has staged regular-season games in Germany, France, Brazil and Mexico in recent years, and Goodell’s plans call for nine games outside the U.S. in 2026 and 10 in 2027. He has previously said he would like to reach 16 international contests, though that would require buy-in from the players.
The current collective bargaining agreement caps international games at 10. That deal expires in March 2031 — the same month Goodell’s new contract runs out.
Overseas Viewership Still Has Room to Grow
NFL games are routinely the most-watched programming in the United States, but the international audience remains thin by comparison. According to CNBC, last year’s Week 1 international game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers, streamed on YouTube, drew 18.5 million U.S. viewers and just 1.2 million abroad.
Travel across multiple time zones can disrupt players who depend on routine to stay healthy across a 17-game season. Goodell said he nonetheless believes players welcome the overseas trips.
“I think they see the opportunity. I get calls, texts from our players during the offseason, and they’re all over the world, so I think this generation of players is used to being international,” he said. “I think they’re used to looking at opportunities to continue to grow their brands, and I think it’s great for the NFL.”
Beyond the One-Off Game
The league’s international strategy rests on more than a single annual visit to a given city, Goodell said, though how much a week-long stay actually builds lasting fandom remains an open question. The NFL leans on its Global Markets Program, under which each team holds marketing rights to at least one international market. Goodell said the league is still refining the program to build fan bases in countries that have no natural ties to a particular team.
“You don’t want to be at the circus to come in and play a game and leave,” he said. “You want to have events and sponsors and media partners. I think we’ll continue to modify [the Global Markets Program], but I think it’s worked well.”
Goodell has said he expects the league to eventually have a team based permanently outside the U.S. He suggested he could envision a future NFL with multiple European clubs — perhaps even a division of them playing one another — but declined to attach a timeline, calling it part of a wider effort to grow the business.
“As you develop your business, at some point in time, you may get to that place where you say, you know, putting a franchise or franchises globally is a good idea,” he said. “You’re looking down the road, maybe you do a division in Europe, so they’re playing against one another. The beauty and the advantage we have is that we’re playing once a week.”
Media exposure sits at the center of that effort. Goodell pointed to more games appearing on free television and on partners that actively promote the sport.
“We’re looking at how we continue to grow our media exposure globally,” he said. “More and more of our games are on free television and on media partners that are promoting the game, and they’re expanding the game, and that’s really important to us.”
Source: www.cnbc.com — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/10/nfl-commissioner-roger-goodell-international-future.html
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