Aaron Rodgers Champions Global Expansion as NFL Eyes 16-Game International Slate

Aaron Rodgers has strongly advocated for the introduction of a dedicated international week within the NFL season, following his historic victory with the Pittsburgh Steelers over the New Orleans Saints at the Stade de France in Paris.

Rodgers and the Steelers continued their global journey, building on last year’s landmark NFL debut in Dublin at Croke Park against the Minnesota Vikings. Delivering another milestone performance in the French capital, Rodgers remains a key figure in the league’s international outreach.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has previously unveiled ambitious plans, including a potential game in Tokyo, Japan, scheduled for either 2027 or 2028. These plans are part of a broader vision to expand the regular season to as many as 16 international games.

“I really look forward to that. We know that soccer worldwide probably has the most amount of fans. If you watch the World Cup at all, you know how fanatical the people for their country teams are. But the NFL is still shown in a number of countries, the Super Bowl is shown in over 100 countries; the reach of the league is fantastic,” said Rodgers.

“I think I always wanted to be a part of it. I remember the 2011 CBA, there was talk about expanding the amount of international games, didn’t really a whole lot until the second CBA.

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“And there was talk about doing an international week, where you had games in 16 different places and you just added an extra bye week. I think it would have been phenomenal for the game.

“Now that the owners want to push for 17 games for the extra revenue and because they care so much about player safety. But it would have been nice.”

Sunday’s game in Paris featured as part of a record nine international games being played during the 2026 campaign, joining Melbourne and Rio de Janeiro as the league’s newest host territories.

The NFL will now head to Madrid, Munich and Mexico City over the next month amid what has taken shape as a Formula 1-style format.

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“You could do obviously Canada, you could do Mexico,” Rodgers continued. “There’s been games in Brazil. You could probably open up another country in South America. Obviously there’s a lot of opportunities in Europe, Ireland is fantastic, France, Spain, Germany, multiple games in England. And then who knows?

“There’s Dubai, those areas really got into the sporting world in a number of ways, you got boxing and UFC, so I think there’s great opportunities for expansion in those.

“It’d be awesome to see them have an international week because I think it’s great for the game and the expansion of the game.”

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The Steelers arrived late into Paris this week as they landed on Friday morning before heading straight into media availability at their hotel. Rodgers said at the time he wished the team had flown in at the beginning of the week as the Saints had.

Arrival time has become a prominent talking point surrounding the NFL’s international games, the Rams landing in Melbourne just a day before their defeat to the San Francisco 49ers. It came a year after Sean McVay’s side dominated the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium having flown in on the eve of the game, a strategy that did not work in Australia.

“I wish there was a mandate from the league and they would have to open up their pocketbooks, too, which, you know, maybe a little tight on money and stuff,” said Rodgers.

“But I think they should mandate every team coming over Sunday or Monday to really enjoy the culture and the place you’re going. And you can do events in those cities and outreach stuff and community work. But they won’t because they’re a little tight.”

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