On the opening night of the 2023 NFL season, commissioner Roger Goodell emphasized the league’s desire to grow its international footprint. Since then, the NFL has already taken two major steps toward that goal. 

First, the league solidified its place in London by extending its deal to host multiple games at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. And now, Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s executive vice president of club business, international, and league events, says the league wants to play regular-season games in Spain and Brazil in 2024. 

“We are spending time in those markets, building relationships and looking at the stadia there,” he told ESPN.

This season, the NFL is playing five international games — three in London (beginning Sunday with the Falcons-Jaguars tilt at 9:30 a.m. ET) and two in Germany. 

Mexico City has held games in the past, but Estadio Azteca is undergoing renovations this year. Should the NFL return to Mexico next year, the league could theoretically play games in five countries outside the U.S. — the U.K., Germany, Mexico, Spain, and Brazil.

Real Madrid’s Estadio Santiago Bernabeu — which has undergone $1 billion-plus renovations — appears to be likely to host a game in Spain. The Miami Dolphins and Chicago Bears are the two NFL teams with international marketing rights in Spain, and the Dolphins have the same rights in Brazil, suggesting those clubs may want to host games in those countries.

Writing On The Wall?

Adding a third country to the NFL’s European footprint would put the league closer to making a four-team European division come to life. 

Beyond the U.K., Germany, and Spain, various NFL teams have European marketing rights in France, Austria, Switzerland, and Ireland — the latter of which has hosted season-opening games for Notre Dame over the past two years.

The tentative deal to end the Hollywood writers’ strike after nearly five months will be welcome news for several sports-related companies and networks. 

TBS and TNT parent Warner Bros. Discovery previously projected a $300 million to $500 million hit in annual adjusted earnings due to the Hollywood strikes. French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault recently completed his $7 billion acquisition of Creative Artists Agency — one of the largest agencies representing both athletes and Hollywood personnel — and can now begin to approach full operations.

Late-night talk shows, which for decades have been an active promotional spot for sports figures, could return to new episodes in a matter of days and be among the first affected programs back on the air.

The agreement between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers is still subject to formal ratification. A separate but related strike by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federal of Television and Radio Artists remains in effect.

The pact “was made possible by the enduring solidarity of WGA members and extraordinary support of our union siblings who joined us on the picket lines for over 146 days,” the guild said.

MLB, NFL, and NHL players unions and individual athletes actively supported the writers’ push for improved compensation and job protections amid the rise of artificial intelligence. The new deal would reopen crucial revenue streams for media companies and agencies that also rely on scripted entertainment in addition to their sports operations.

During the tandem strikes — Hollywood’s first since 1960 — networks have also increasingly leaned on live sports to help fill programming holes. That is expected to continue, particularly while the actors’ strike is still ongoing and writers begin to ramp up production on myriad projects. 

Several companies with extensive sports media ties also saw stocks rise in initial Monday trading, including Amazon, Apple, and Netflix. 

There are more questions than answers regarding the PGA Tour’s still-unofficial union with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, but the 2024 golf calendar is starting to come into focus.

The PGA Tour has already released the schedule for its next FedEx Cup season, which begins in January, and now emerging details of LIV Golf’s 2024 plans reveal some clashes with its current rival and soon-to-be partner.

While LIV’s acting COO Gary Davidson told Front Office Sports in August that the schedule could be released within weeks, it still hasn’t been formally announced. But according to Sports Illustrated, a major shift from LIV’s 2023 strategy will be the circuit’s willingness to go head-to-head with some of the PGA Tour’s biggest events, which it avoided doing this year. 

At least four LIV tournaments will be played on the same weekends as PGA Tour signature events like Pebble Beach and the Jack Nicklaus-hosted Memorial Tournament. 

Super Weekend In Vegas

LIV is also likely to play a tournament in Las Vegas on the same weekend Super Bowl LVIII is played at the Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium. In February, the PGA Tour’s WM Phoenix Open took place on Super Bowl weekend in Arizona, giving the tournament an added spotlight with NFL fans in town.

Davidson had said LIV would support its golfers playing in future PGA Tour events should a definitive agreement be finalized. But as expected, it doesn’t look like that will be in 2024 — and in the interim, LIV doesn’t look like it will shy away from head-on competition with the Tour.