Ahead of the final contest of the 2024 International Games, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell offered a preview of what next season's slate will look like, including a new nation potentially hosting its first NFL game.
Goodell told NFL Network's Colleen Wolfe on NFL GameDay Kickoff that the league is looking to play upwards of eight games outside of the United States in 2025, including in Ireland.
"We are definitely going to Spain, we announced that," Goodell said from Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, before Giants-Panthers. "We expect to return to Mexico City. We expect to return to Brazil. We will certainly be back in the U.K. And we're also looking at the potential of another game in the U.K. area in Ireland, possibly. That's a possibility. And we'll certainly be back here in Germany. So if that total's eight, that's what we're shooting for."
The NFL has been playing regular season games in the United Kingdom since 2007 but has yet to venture across the Irish Sea. Dublin's Aviva Stadium has played host to a number of college football games over the last decade but has never hosted a regular season NFL game and could be a potential site for a 2025 game if the league expands its international footprint to Ireland. Croke Park, also in Dublin, is another possible host and has history with the NFL; it was the site of a preseason game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears in 1997.
The Steelers are a potential candidate to play in a future game in Ireland. Their former owner, Dan Rooney, served as Ambassador to Ireland from 2009-2012, and Pittsburgh is one of three NFL teams with Ireland as its designated global market (Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets).
In May 2023, Daniel Rooney, the Steelers' director of business development and strategy, said it was the organization's "aspirations long term" to play a game in Ireland.
Ireland would be the sixth different country to participate in the NFL's International Games, following the United Kingdom, Mexico, Germany, Brazil and Spain, and the fourth European nation to do so.
As Goodell mentioned, the NFL has already announced it will play a game at the renovated Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, the Spanish capital, next season. The league is also slated to return to Estadio Azteca in Mexico City for the first time since 2022. After the NFL's September debut in São Paulo -- a thrilling 34-29 Eagles win over the Packers -- the league is expected to be back in Brazil. The NFL will return to Germany in 2025, as well, and is eyeing Berlin as a potential site for a game.
NFL team owners voted in December to authorize the league to host eight games internationally each season.
