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NFL Owners Approve Even More International Games in 2027
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- NFL Owners Approve Even More International Games in 2027
France-Allemagne en ligue des Nations au stade de France le 16 octobre 2018. -- Zakarie Faibis
NFL owners approved a plan to significantly expand the league's international schedule, even before any potential expansion of the regular season schedule.
At the spring league meeting in Orlando, Florida this week, the NFL owners approved a measure that will expand the permitted number of international games to be scheduled up to 10 games per season, up from the current eight.
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That doesn't include games played at Wembley Stadium in London that are voluntarily given up by the Jacksonville Jaguars . This year, the league is playing a record nine international games, including one contest scheduled by the Jaguars.
Jacksonville could play as many as three home games at Wembley Stadium in 2027, with their home stadium closed for renovations, meaning the league could potentially have as many as 13 international games next season.
In addition to the extra games on the docket internationally, teams also agreed to give up the rights to protect certain games from being played overseas. Until now, clubs had the right to protect two home games per year from being moved from their home stadium.
Now, any game is up for grabs in terms of the location, meaning that you could potentially see an AFC North-deciding game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens take place in some far-flung locale.
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The NFL had been expected to expand international games to at least 16 per season, to coincide with an expansion of the regular-season schedule from 17 to 18 games. That is expected to be the key talking point of the next round of CBA negotiations. The current CBA runs through March 2031, but it is expected that the NFL will ask the NFLPA to reopen negotiations in order to request an 18-game regular-season.
That change could also take place as soon as 2027, with a date not yet set for Super Bowl LXII in Atlanta , Georgia.
The Steelers have played just two international regular-season games in the franchise's history, but one of those came last season and the third will be in 2026, with an Oct. 25 trip to Paris, France scheduled for the Steelers and New Orleans Saints .
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : NFL Owners Approve Even More International Games in 2027
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