SAN FRANCISCO — The NFL’s international plan for the 2026 season is now at an unprecedented scale as the league has completed agreements to return to Spain and play in France for the first time.

The multiyear pact with Madrid political leaders and LaLiga’s Real Madrid involves the league returning for another global game at the club’s Bernabéu Stadium. The Commanders and Dolphins played there in November to cap a seven-game international slate in the 2025 schedule. The game, won by Miami 16–13 in overtime, drew a robust crowd of 78,610, and NFL officials called the event “a pivotal moment for the sport in Spain.” 

The return engagement will seek to advance the NFL’s presence in another important European country for the league. The upcoming game, meanwhile, will also take further advantage of a $1.6 billion renovation to Bernabéu Stadium completed in late 2024. 

The Bears, Chiefs, and Dolphins have rights to Spain in the NFL’s Global Markets Program.

Paris Engagement

Shortly after the early Monday announcement of the Spain deal, the NFL unveiled a separate pact with French authorities to ​​play a game at Stade de France—the country’s national stadium—with the Saints named as one of the participating teams.

Paris, of course, was the site of the hugely successful 2024 Summer Olympics, and France has long been an economic and cultural power across Europe. The inclusion of the Saints will, in part, look to link between the French heritage in Louisiana and the Paris setting.

“This moment is special not only because of the strong cultural connection between Louisiana and France, but also because we will compete before a growing Saints fan base in Paris,” said Saints owner Gayle Benson. 

The Saints are currently the only team with French rights in the Global Markets Program.

Growing Globally

The Spain and France deals, meanwhile, advance what will be a record level of NFL overseas games in 2026. The following cities are already confirmed for next season:

• Madrid
• Paris
• Rio de Janeiro in a similar return to Brazil
• Munich, in a continuation of annual games in Germany that are set through at least 2029. Eleven of 32 NFL teams have rights to Germany in the Global Markets Program, a figure higher than any other country
• Melbourne in a first-ever regular-season game for the NFL in Australia. The Rams will be the designated home team in that contest
• Three games in London

That eight-game international slate exceeds the seven played in 2025 and had been previously identified as a minimum baseline for the league in future seasons. The NFL, however, continues to actively consider other countries for games, including Mexico, Ireland, and Saudi Arabia, among others. 

“We’ve laid out a dozen or 13 priority markets, and we’re starting to do the due diligence,” said NFL EVP Peter O’Reilly during the league’s fall meeting.

The full 2026 schedule will be released in May, but the planned international games will be known before then. 

More broadly, the NFL has made no secret of its goal to ultimately reach a full season of international games. Most recently, Patriots owner Robert Kraft said that “we’re going to push like the dickens now to make international more important with us.”

That the Seahawks will be sold this year is one of the NFL’s worst-kept secrets.

The team will be put on the market this year, but the process won’t begin in earnest until after the sale of the NBA’s Trail Blazers has closed, a source familiar with the matter tells Front Office Sports. That’s expected in March. 

A sale of the Seahawks would be in line with the wishes of the late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, who mandated the eventual sale of his sports holdings before he died in 2018. Those assets included the Seahawks, the Blazers, and a 25% stake in MLS’s Seattle Sounders (Allen’s sister, Jody Allen, serves as executor and trustee of the Paul G. Allen estate).

A group led by Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon agreed to buy the Blazers at a valuation north of $4 billion in August, a few months after the NBA team was put up for sale in May. At the time, however, the Allen estate made it clear that the Seahawks were not for sale.

As the Seahawks prepare to play the Patriots in Super Bowl LX on Sunday, reports about an anticipated sale have begun trickling out. Bloomberg reported on Jan. 16 that while the team is not yet for sale, “officials at the NFL and other owners are keen for the Seahawks to be sold.” Last week, ESPN reported the team will go up for sale after the Super Bowl, and that “sale discussions have taken place at ownership and league levels for at least the past week.” 

After that, The Wall Street Journal reported the team is expected to be put up for sale “shortly after” the Super Bowl. That report also said the NFL has been so “frustrated” with the fact that the team has not yet been sold that it levied a $5 million fine against the Seahawks “for being out of compliance with ownership requirements.” The league has denied that the team was fined. When reached by FOS, a spokesperson for the Allen estate referred to the NFL’s comment when asked about the fine. 

The March timeline also aligns with what a spokesperson for Allen’s estate told ESPN. They said the “team is not for sale,” and added that “we’ve already said that will change at some point per Paul’s wishes, but I have no news to share. Our focus right now is winning the Super Bowl and completing the sale of the Portland Trail Blazers in the coming months.”

Whether the Seahawks are formally put on the block right after the Super Bowl or the following month remains to be seen, but what’s clear is that—barring a shocking development—they will be the next NFL team sold. The most recent change-of-control sale was the Commanders, which controversial former owner Dan Snyder sold in 2023 to a group led by Josh Harris, in a deal valued at $6.05 billion.

The Seahawks are widely expected to fetch more than that. Pro sports franchise valuations—not just in the NFL—have been on an upward trajectory, and experts see no reason for that to abate. The Giants were valued at $10 billion in the sale of a 10% stake to the Kochs in September, for example.

Who Will Buy Them?

When the Seahawks are inevitably made available, one name will without a doubt be among the rumored suitors: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Bezos, who Forbes currently ranks as the fourth-richest person in the world with a net worth of $254 billion, has been linked to NFL teams in the past, including the Commanders and Broncos. The Seahawks could be a natural fit, as Seattle is the primary headquarters of Amazon.

Bezos is not the only ultra-rich businessperson with strong ties to the area, though.

“There are a bunch of Microsoft millionaires or billionaires in the Seattle area, including people who are on the cap tables for the Seattle Sounders and Kraken,” says one legal industry source who advises on sports deals.

Clippers owner and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is another natural candidate. He lives in Seattle’s metropolitan area and tried multiple times to keep the SuperSonics in the city before the team moved to Oklahoma City, and he pivoted toward buying the Clippers. With a net worth of more than $150 billion, Ballmer could buy the team without needing to raise additional capital. 

The Sounders are majority-owned by Adrian Hanauer, who is also a part-owner of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken. Other names who could come up once the Seahawks formally become available include Harry Sloan, David Nathanson, and Samantha Holloway, the daughter of the late billionaire David Bonderman, who owns the Kraken. Holloway has previously told FOS she’s interested in bringing the NBA back to Seattle. 

The NFL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.