The NFL’s march toward a truly global schedule took another significant step on Tuesday after team owners approved a resolution allowing the league to stage up to 10 international regular season games per year from 2027 onward.

Ten is the maximum number of overseas games currently permitted under the collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association, but the move, ratified during the Spring League Meeting in Orlando, further advances commissioner Roger Goodell’s long-stated ambition of eventually seeing 16 international games played annually, effectively creating one overseas fixture for every NFL franchise each season.

The 2026 season already represents a landmark expansion for the league’s International Series, with a record nine games scheduled across four continents and seven countries. That slate includes first-ever regular-season games in Paris and Melbourne, alongside debuts in Rio de Janeiro and returns to London, Munich, Madrid and Mexico City. However, under the newly-approved policy, the league now has a direct pathway to increasing that figure again from 2027.

Goodell has repeatedly framed international expansion as central to the NFL’s long-term growth strategy, and the league’s increasing willingness to move meaningful inventory abroad reflects both surging demand and confidence in overseas infrastructure.

“There’s a path to 10 in 2027,” NFL executive vice president of club business, international and league events Peter O’Reilly said during the meetings in Orlando. “Our strategy is not one and done so our goal is to go back to those markets that we’re establishing. Then there are parts of the world that we are looking at for future years, maybe not ’27, but beyond. Asia would be an example of that. Japan would be a good example within Asia of a market that has complexity.”

Owners also voted to remove the ability for clubs to protect two home games from being selected for international play, a scheduling mechanism that had previously complicated efforts to build marquee overseas match-ups. The rule change could have major ramifications for future scheduling, potentially opening the door for rivalry games and premium match-ups that had previously remained stateside.

The Jacksonville Jaguars will again play twice in London during the 2026 season as renovations continue at EverBank Stadium, meaning the total number of international fixtures could potentially reach 11 in some future years despite the 10-game league limit under the current CBA structure.

International expansion has accelerated dramatically since the league first staged a single regular season game outside the United States in 2007. More than 60 games have now been played abroad, while the NFL’s Global Markets Programme continues to distribute commercial rights and branding opportunities worldwide.

The growing international footprint has also inevitably fuelled discussion around the prospect of a future Super Bowl outside the United States. It is an idea once viewed as fanciful but now apparently one increasingly discussed within league circles.

“I don’t know if I can fully parse that in terms of feasibility versus likelihood, but if you’re just talking feasibility, obviously, as we go to new stadiums around the world, we’re getting a better sense of those buildings,” O’Reilly said. “You have great buildings like Tottenham that were built with the NFL in mind from day one. So I think, given passion, partners, some stadiums, there’s some feasibility.”