LONDON (AP) - The NFL's international road trip will hold record seven games outside the United States in the 2025 season with Berlin, Dublin and Madrid as new destinations.
Decades ago when there was only one international game a year, league officials had to convince the team that it was still far away to play abroad. The Minnesota Vikings will play back-to-back games abroad in different cities this season – first in Dublin and in London on the second week. Brazil's Sao Paulo is held for the second straight season.
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The alliance's interest in international expansion will only grow, with Melbourne, Australia already locking in next year. Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, may also be the future host at some point. So far, 55 regular season games have been played abroad.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell even surfaced to host the International Super Bowl one day.
Here are some facts and numbers that can help put it in context:
1
The number of times the Dallas Cowboys play internationally. "The Team of America" seems to be nicknamed literally. Tony Romo led Dallas to defeat the Jacksonville Jaguars 31-17 at Wembley Stadium on November 9, 2014. The other two teams - the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns - have also only participated in once abroad, but are on the international schedule this season. The Steelers played the Vikings in Dublin on September 28. The Browns will face the Vikings at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on October 5. The Jacksonville Jaguars played the most international matches in London - 13 games.
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3
All except three teams participated in the NFL’s “Global Markets Program” and signed commercial deals and developed their fan base in the rights of designated countries, just as they did in their own markets. The only teams not to participate are the Buffalo Bills, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Tennessee Titans.
4
A team won a Super Bowl number in the same season and they competed in international competitions. Here's what happened in the past two seasons: the Philadelphia Eagles won their first week in Sao Paulo, Brazil last season; the Kansas City Chiefs won in Frankfurt, Germany in Week 9 of 2023. The Chiefs also won the Super Bowl title in 2019 (week 11). The New York Giants were another team in 2007 after the first regular season game in London.
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17
The time difference between Los Angeles and Melbourne, Australia. The Rams have been announced as one of the teams to play the regular season at the Melbourne Cricket Stadium in 2026. This is likely to be the first week of the match that will start before noon in Melbourne. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks held the 2014 Major League Baseball season in Sydney a week before the league.
26
The number of regular seasons played at Wembley Stadium. The second highest is Tottenham Stadium (10). The Rogers Center in Toronto is next with six games. Five matches have been staged in the refurbished Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. The rest: Twickenham Stadium in London (3); Allianz Arena in Munich (2); Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt (2); and Corinthian Arena in St. Paul (1).
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59
Giants quarterback Eli Manning beat the Docks 13-10 in London's first regular season match and played at Wembley Stadium on October 28, 2007. Mudfest's highlight was Manning scrambled to score a 10-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
.125
Buffalo's winning rate in international competitions. The bill is 1-7 outside of us. They played at the Rogers Center in Toronto for six consecutive years (2008-13) and won only once. They terminated their contracts for the remaining four years there for the rest of their four years of playing the annual game there, thus unplugging the experiment. The 2013 competition only announced 38,969 people. After losing to the Jaguars twice (2015, 2023), the bill was 0-2 in London.
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103,467
The highest number of attendees in the regular season international competition - a match against the suburbs of Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on October 2, 2005. Barcelona camp Nou may one day be eclipsed, with the camp expected to have a capacity of more than 104,000 after renovations are completed. The NFL has expressed interest in playing games there.
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