If, as expected, a 17-game regular season is approved by the NFL this week, more international games are expected to be added to the regular season schedule. On Tuesday, the 32 team owners are expected to approve the 17th game, reducing the number of preseason games per team from four to three. In the NFL’s current scheduling formula, each team plays six games (home and away) against their divisional rivals, with four games against a pre-determined division from the opposite conference, in addition to six games against teams out of the same conference. A 17th game would all be interconference matches, with all of them, at least for 2021, in current NFL stadiums.
However, starting in 2022, the NFL would take four games from the conference scheduled to host nine such games and shuffle them to neutral sites outside of the U.S, with a guarantee that all 32 NFL teams would play at least one time on foreign soil every at least once every eight years.
To date, the league has played 38 international regular season games: 28 in London, six in Toronto, and four in Mexico City. The Jacksonville Jaguars have been the most aggressive in seeking appearances in those games, becoming a yearly regular for at least one game in London.
Photo credit – Ian Hughes / Wikimedia Commons / London, England
