NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has again emphasised the league’s ambition to expand its International Series programme, prefacing this weekend’s inaugural game in Dublin by hinting that all 32 teams could soon be playing overseas each year.

According to reporting from both NFL.com and AP, the NFL, having already added Australia to its 2026 slate, now has its eye on moving into Asia, although Goodell would not be drawn on which countries might be involved in talks. Then league played preseason exhibition games in Japan between 1976 — where the then San Diego Chargers played the then St Louis Cardinals — and 2005, when the Tokyo Dome hosted more than 45,000 spectators for the final fixture.

Attempts to play in China have failed to materialise for various reasons, but the country would appear to be the most likely alternative to Japan as an Asian International Series stopover. The ‘China Bowl’ was earmarked for August 2007 at the Workers Stadium in Beijing, principally to mark the one-year countdown to the 2008 Olympics, but was canned when the NFL decided to concentrate its ‘global resources’ on switching up to a regular-season game in London — which kicked off what is now the International Series.

With Rio de Janeiro having been announced as the latest city to join the overseas roster on Friday — ostensibly to alternate with São Paulo, which has already hosted two games in Brazil — Goodell has also referenced the Middle East as a potential addition to the schedule, as he continues to explore the possibility of every team playing an International Series game every season.

“I think our next step after Australia would be probably moving into Asia,” he confirmed to an audience in Dublin. “That’s a continent we’d like to be playing in, [as] we are serious about being a global sport. We would like to get to 16 games [overseas], so everyone is playing one game a year internationally.”

The commissioner also gave optismism to fans in Ireland, hinting that this weekend’s game at Croke Park wouldn’t be a one-off, despite the success of the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers clash subject to evaluation prior to any official extension of the agreement.

“We never like to say whether we’re coming back until we finish the first one, so let’s talk about it Monday,” Goodell cautioned, “but I have no doubt this is going to be incredibly successful. I also have no doubt that we’ll be back.”