NEW YORK — The NFL is still considering bringing a 2024 regular-season game to either Spain or Brazil, looking to further activate an international market it hopes can replicate the fan fervor seen in Germany.

NFL EVP Peter O’Reilly said the league is in a review process on both markets as it looks to create an additional international game next year, joining planned ones in London and Munich. 

The international game opening was created when Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca began renovations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, a situation that also impacted the NFL’s 2023 schedule.

First mentioned publicly last month, a decision on whether and when the NFL will go to Spain or Brazil is expected in December or January.

In either instance, the NFL is aiming for a market response similar to that of Germany, which has seen a run of instant sellouts and massive spikes on merchandise and secondary ticket markets.

“There’s real opportunity,” O’Reilly said. “Germany is a unique market with the history of NFL Europe and how strong the American football legacy is there, but the reason we’re looking at Brazil and Spain is based on the size of the fanbases there.”

Turf Battles

Facing rising unrest over the state of its playing surfaces and potential links to player injuries, the NFL is turning to a perhaps unlikely source for help: FIFA. 

The league will seek to engage with the global soccer governing body on field research and best practices, extending efforts to learn more about field composition and its effects. 

The linkage is driven heavily by FIFA’s plan to use NFL stadiums for much of the upcoming 2026 World Cup, which will be held in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium in New Jersey and Texas’ AT&T Stadium have been identified as the leading candidates to host that tournament’s final. 

FIFA is using hybrid grass for the World Cup, contrasting with the artificial turf used in half of NFL stadiums.

“We want to take a look at the variety of surfaces that they have and use some of the metrics that we measure against, things like hardness, traction, [overall] performance,” said Jeff Miller, NFL EVP. “For us, it’s less about grass vs. synthetic than looking at the characteristics of each and reducing injury rates of both.”

Coaching Shift

NFL clubs approved a shift in which all in-person head coach interviews will be held after the conclusion of all divisional playoff games. The move is designed to create a more level playing field for coaching talent, as well as boost diverse hiring.

Two top media companies have reportedly raised their bids for the media rights to Serie A — but the figures still fall short of the initial $1 billion-plus annual goal set by Italy’s top soccer league.

DAZN and Comcast-owned Sky Italia submitted offers that would pay Serie A $4.75 billion over five years, or about $950 million a year, according to Bloomberg. DAZN would pay about $740 million per season, while Sky Italia would would about $211 million annually.

In July, Serie A decided to delay a decision on its next media rights contracts — which would begin with the 2024-25 season — because the bids fell short of a combined $1 billion a year. MediaForEurope also initially bid for Serie A rights along with DAZN and Sky Italia.

For now, it’s unclear if Serie A will accept the bids or look to delay the process even further in an effort to potentially stoke more interest from other broadcasters.

Cash-Flow Woes

Serie A most recently ranked fourth in revenue generation among Europe’s top five soccer leagues.

Juventus, the Italian league’s winningest club in history, is dealing with its own revenue issues and a Financial Fair Play penalty. Meanwhile, AC Milan and Inter Milan were forced to abandon plans for a new joint $1.3 billion stadium.

The list of celebrities investing in the Alpine Formula 1 team just keeps growing.

The Renault-owned operation saw a $210 million capital infusion over the summer, led by Otro Capital and RedBird Capital Partners and including the participation of Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney, and Michael B. Jordan. The new group acquired a 24% stake in the Alpine team at a valuation of about $900 million.

Now, more big names across sports and entertainment are being added to the incoming investor list. 

Joining the capital investment are Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, four-time major golf championship winner Rory McIlroy, boxer Anthony Joshua, and Liverpool and England national team star Trent Alexander-Arnold. While the figures are new investors, they are part of the $210 million infusion — and not bringing in additional money beyond that figure.

Alpine is currently in sixth place of F1’s constructors standings, over a hundred points behind fifth-place McLaren. The team’s drivers, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, sit in 11th and 12th place in the drivers standings, respectively.

At the time of the initial investment, Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi had said they needed to “reinvest into the team to accelerate our program of catchup, to be at the level of the very top teams.”

With five races left this campaign, that improvement will likely have to wait until next year.

The Big 12 continues to send mixed messages when it comes to its flirtation with further expansion.

Amid new speculation that the conference is exploring adding Gonzaga and potentially another basketball powerhouse school, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark isn’t ready to publicly commit to getting bigger.

“There’s nothing imminent with respect to expansion,” Yormark said on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, the Big 12 was reported to have revived its interest in adding Gonzaga after initially being done expanding in the wake of adding Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah — all of which will join the conference in 2024. There was some reported pushback to the revival of the Gonzaga idea, but a source told Front Office Sports that Yormark had “overwhelming support” from conference leadership to explore the idea.

Now, while Yormark says he will “explore all options” and reiterated his stance that he will pursue anything that creates value for the conference, he won’t give definitive details on whether further expansion is coming or not.

The future of Gonzaga — currently a member of the West Coast Conference — will be a key factor in the next stages of conference realignment. The fate of the remaining Pac-12 members, Oregon State and Washington State, will be affected by their pending lawsuit.