May 23, 2024

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With international expansion top of mind for the NFL, several new continents are in play. … Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks out yet again on an 18-game regular season. … Pittsburgh will host the 2026 NFL draft. … The College Football Playoff gets a new broadcast partner. … And Greg Olsen gets candid about his broadcasting future on the newest episode of Front Office Sports Today [[link removed]].

— David Rumsey [[link removed]] and Eric Fisher [[link removed]]

Next Up on NFL’s Travel Plans: Australia … and Abu Dhabi? [[link removed]]

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The NFL is always thinking 12 months, five years, and even a decade down the road.

Right now, international expansion is at the forefront of team owners’ minds. Regular-season games will enter new markets in Brazil this fall and Spain next year. In 2025, the NFL has the option of playing eight games [[link removed]] outside of the U.S., up from the five contests beyond this country’s borders last season and this upcoming one.

From time to time, the league likes to drop nuggets of information to prepare its fans for what’s coming next. The latest example comes from owners meetings this week in Nashville, where more details surrounding the league’s international strategy have been trickling out, both through public comments and anonymous back channels.

Heard Down Under?

It’s becoming more and more clear that Australia is going to be next up for hosting a regular-season game. “Yes, we are having those conversations in Australia,” Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s executive vice president of club business, international and league events, told reporters at the owners meetings.

“Australia is among a set—and it’s not a small set—of markets that we are looking at,” O’Reilly said. “And obviously Australia is an important market for us.” The Eagles and Rams have rights in Australia as part of the NFL’s global markets program that allows teams to activate their brands internationally. If either Philadelphia or Los Angeles wanted to play host Down Under, 2026 could make sense, as NFC teams will have the extra ninth home game that season.

Cities like Sydney and Melbourne are 14 hours ahead of the East Coast, so finding a suitable game window for locals and fans back home in the U.S. may be difficult, but not impossible. The NFL isn’t allowed to broadcast games in the U.S. on Friday nights and Saturdays from the second Friday in September to the second Saturday in December.

So, in order to avoid a broadcast in the middle of the night for U.S. viewers, the NFL would need to look at a midday contest on a weekday in Australia. For example, a noon kickoff on a Monday in Sydney could be broadcast in the U.S. on Sunday evening at 10 p.m. ET—that would be 7 p.m. PT for Rams fans on the West Coast, for example.

All Across the World

Beyond Australia and other markets that already host games, the NFL is reportedly considering all of its options. The league is conducting due diligence on France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and the Middle East—likely Abu Dhabi, according to The New York Times [[link removed]]. The NBA has played preseason games in Abu Dhabi, but has yet to hold a regular-season contest in the Middle East.

O’Reilly also mentioned the Asia Pacific region while discussing the possibility of Australia, noting the competitive and logistical challenges with that part of the world. “Our role is to really look at the globe, look at where the fan base is strong, and do the diligence, make the evaluation,” he said.

LOUD AND CLEAR About That 18-Game Schedule ...

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

“We think that would be a good trade.”

—NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, on the potential of eliminating one preseason game in order to add an 18th regular-season game to the schedule. Speaking to reporters [[link removed]] at this week’s owners meetings in Nashville, Goodell said, “I think most anybody would think that was beneficial.” The commissioner didn’t lay out a specific timeline for expanding the regular season, but he noted it was a long-term goal.

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NFL Draft: Pittsburgh Will Host in ’26, Denver Makes Its Case for ’27 [[link removed]]

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Steel City is getting its turn with the NFL draft, but it is now facing an ever-rising bar to maintain the accelerating momentum of the league showcase.

During spring meetings held in Nashville, the NFL selected Pittsburgh to host the 2026 draft, with the Steelers and city officials successfully bidding for the league’s second-biggest single event after the Super Bowl. The selection, while expected, maintains a recent run [[link removed]] of chosen sites in Midwest and Rust Belt cities that otherwise would not be eligible to host a Super Bowl.

The runaway success of Detroit, however, presents a heightened challenge to Pittsburgh. The Motor City drew [[link removed]] a league-record attendance of 775,000 for this year’s draft, and the event helped amplify a narrative of an ongoing recovery [[link removed]] for a city long challenged in both its local economy and pro sports. Thanks in part to a growing technology sector [[link removed]], Pittsburgh’s civic rebirth is arguably further along than what’s happening in Detroit. But the recent event in Michigan still has set a new standard for both Pittsburgh and next year’s draft in Green Bay.

“Obviously, the bar has been set very high lately with some great efforts by Detroit and Kansas City, most recently hosting the draft, and I’m sure Green Bay will be great as well,” said Steelers owner Art Rooney II. “We’re looking forward to following in that tradition.”

Pittsburgh has hosted numerous major sports events over the years, including the 1994 and 2006 MLB All-Star Games, ’11 NHL Winter Classic, multiple rounds of March Madness in both men’s and women’s college basketball, and a litany of NFL and NHL playoff games. But all those are likely to be surpassed by the forthcoming attendance for the NFL draft, at least if the recent iterations are any indication.

“We think it will be the largest visitor event in the history of Pittsburgh,” Rooney said. “We think Steeler Nation from around the country will come for the event.”

The turnout will certainly top the one other time the city hosted the draft, back in December 1947, when it was held in a hotel, and had none of the fan-facing components central to the event today.

Up Next

The exact layout of the entire draft footprint in Pittsburgh is still being finalized. But in addition to a planned main stage along the North Shore, near Acrisure Stadium, the NFL plans to create a fan experience of some type at Point State Park. That locale, near where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet to form the Ohio River, is a focal point for the city, but it has not been employed as frequently for major sports events coming to town.

The next available NFL draft, meanwhile, is now in 2027. The Broncos—who continue to remake themselves under the new, Greg Penner–led ownership group—have submitted a bid. The Panthers and Charlotte are also reportedly interested in a future draft, but did not submit a bid for the latest formal consideration by the league.

ONE BIG FIG TNT Goes for Two

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

2

Number of College Football Playoff games TNT will broadcast this upcoming season. The broadcaster has struck a five-year sublicensing agreement [[link removed]] with ESPN, which earlier this year signed an eight-year, $7.8 billion exclusive deal for the expanded 12-team playoff. This winter, TNT will air two first-round CFP games. From 2026 to ’28, it will also show two quarterfinal games each year. It is unclear how much parent company Warner Bros. Discovery is paying for the deal.

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