The NFL has hosted the Super Bowl in cities across the United States, but could we one day see the biggest event in American sports played internationally? It’s a possibility that has sparked debate among fans, many of whom view football as an exclusively American tradition. The Super Bowl is often seen as a national holiday, a cultural event as much as a sporting one.
For some, the idea of holding it outside the U.S. borders — in places like London or Paris — feels like a betrayal. But according to recent comments from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, the league is open to the idea.
This week, Goodell was in London, where the Jacksonville Jaguars were set to play the Chicago Bears as part of the NFL’s International Series. During a fan forum, he addressed the prospect of an international Super Bowl, signaling that while the league has traditionally reserved the event for U.S. cities with NFL franchises, that could change.
“We’ve always traditionally tried to play a Super Bowl in an NFL city,” Goodell explained, per ESPN. “That was always sort of a reward for the cities that have NFL franchises. But things change. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if that happens one day.”
While the notion of moving the Super Bowl overseas may be unthinkable for many diehard American football fans, Goodell’s remarks hint at the league’s broader vision. The NFL has been steadily expanding its international presence, with games in London and other countries becoming more frequent over the years. It’s clear that growing the sport globally is a priority for the league, and hosting a Super Bowl abroad could be the next step in that strategy.
In fact, from a logistical standpoint, the Super Bowl could be the easiest of all NFL playoff games to take international. Unlike most playoff games, which are played on short notice at the home stadium of the higher-seeded team, the Super Bowl is scheduled weeks in advance and held at a neutral site.
With a two-week break between the conference championships and the Super Bowl, the additional time would make it more feasible to manage the logistics of hosting the event in a foreign country.
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Furthermore, the Super Bowl is already much more than a football game—it’s a global spectacle, attracting viewers from all over the world. In 2023, the Super Bowl drew an estimated 113 million viewers, with a significant portion of that audience coming from outside the U.S. Moving the game to an international location could expand that global reach even further.
Of course, such a move would not come without backlash. Many American fans feel that football, especially the Super Bowl, is inherently tied to U.S. culture and should remain rooted in its American origins. There is concern that playing the Super Bowl abroad would diminish its connection to its home fan base, taking away one of the most uniquely American sporting experiences.
But with the NFL’s increasing focus on international markets, including regular season games in London, Germany, and Mexico, it’s clear that the league is willing to make bold moves to grow its brand worldwide. An international Super Bowl could be the culmination of that effort, helping the NFL cement its place as a truly global sport.
While it remains to be seen when or where an international Super Bowl could take place, the idea no longer seems far-fetched. As Goodell himself noted, “things change,” and for a league as ambitious as the NFL, taking its marquee event overseas may just be a matter of time.
If and when it happens, it would mark a new era for American football, one that extends beyond U.S. borders and brings the game to fans around the world.
