NFL international games are here to stay, and maybe a regular part of every team’s schedule in the future

LONDON – The drive up High Road passed jerseys of all kinds. From the Seven Sisters train line, there were NFL fans of all flavors.

Some jerseys seen along the sidewalk included Joe Burrow, George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey. There was Aaron Rodgers in a Packers uniform and there was Aaron Rodgers in a Jets uniform. There were tons of Bears, as to be expected: Brian Urlacher, Jay Cutler, Walter Payton. There were plenty of current Bears too and plenty of Bears-adjacent players like a Roquan Smith Ravens jersey or a Mitchell Trubisky North Carolina jersey.

The crowd headed north toward Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in northern London, a modern stadium that stands high above the surrounding neighborhood like a beacon in the sky. Every NFL fan in London was heading that direction. It felt like the eyes of the whole football world, American football anyway, were on Tottenham on Sunday.

The Chicago Bears took on the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday in London. It was the Bears’ first overseas game since playing in this same stadium in 2019. The Bears won, 35-16, on Sunday behind four touchdown passes from rookie quarterback Caleb Williams.

Just a day earlier, at a fan forum in Tottenham, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell detailed his goals for the NFL’s international series. Already, NFL owners have approved an increase in international games from four to eight in 2025. It has been less than a year since that idea was approved and Goodell is already thinking bigger.

With more and more talk in the past year or two about potentially expanding the league to an 18-game regular season, Goodell sees an opportunity to expand the international series even more. He floated the idea of 16 international games and an 18-game regular season, during which every team plays at least one international game.

Goodell, notably, sounded open to the idea of an international Super Bowl for the first time.

“We’ve always traditionally tried to play a Super Bowl in an NFL city — that was always sort of a reward for the cities that have NFL franchises,” Goodell said, according to the Associated Press. “But things change. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if that happens one day.”

The next three Super Bowls are already scheduled – New Orleans this season, Levi’s Stadium in northern California next season and SoFi Stadium outside Los Angeles the year after. The conversation for a future international Super Bowl would have to start with Tottenham.

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the official home of the NFL in the United Kingdom. The league and the stadium have a deal to play two games per season there through the 2029 NFL season.

NFL players and coaches might think these overseas games are a pain. The logistics and organization required to move an NFL team out of its state-of-the-art facility and across an ocean are nothing short of extraordinary. Imagine planning a European vacation for more than 100 people.

“I don’t think we come over here for our own convenience,” Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson said this week. “At the end of the day, it is what it is. It’s on the schedule so you’ve got to go play.”

I don’t think we come over here for our own convenience. At the end of the day, it is what it is. It’s on the schedule so you’ve got to go play.”

—  Jaylon Johnson, Bears cornerback

The league’s goal, of course, is to continue growing the game. Just down the road from the stadium on Sunday, kids ran routes and played flag football at Finsbury Park a few hours before kickoff. But when NFL owners hear growth of the game, what they really hear is growth of the bottom line.

Goodell’s job is to represent NFL owners. They are the ones who approve his contract. As long as they see money to be made overseas, the league is going to keep seeking these opportunities.

International viewership of the Super Bowl was up 10% last February, including 18% in the UK. Goodell’s international push is working. The NFL may never rival soccer – or rather, the other football – across the globe, but it’s not about that. The NFL is building a small, but loud, cult following overseas. It has to start somewhere.

The loudest moment throughout Sunday’s game was not when Williams threw his four touchdown passes, or when the Bears took the final kneel down. It was moments before kickoff, when thousands of British fans joined in for the pregame rendition of their national anthem, “God Save the King.”

They belted out every word. There were plenty of Americans in the building, and plenty of Chicagoans, but the British fans made sure to let everyone know where this game was being played.