Roger Goodell says the NFL could one day put a team in Paris. Speaking in the French capital two days before the league’s first regular-season game in France, the commissioner said he believes a franchise there is within reach someday, and that a Super Bowl outside the United States could follow if one arrives.
The remarks set the stakes for Sunday, Oct. 25, when the Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints meet at the Stade de France at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. For the league, the game is meant as a first step in France rather than a single visit, and Goodell framed it that way.
“Is it possible someday there’ll be an NFL franchise in Paris? Yes, I do. I do think that’s possible,” Goodell said in an interview on Friday. He gave no timeline. He also said the league will not announce any further games in France until it has staged its first two there.
Stade de France is ready for the first ever NFL game in Paris 🇫🇷 @NFLFrance
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/aPjJPtpoLR— NFL (@NFL) October 25, 2026
Sixteen games abroad, one for every club
Goodell’s larger target is a schedule in which all 32 clubs play outside the United States every season. With two teams in each game, that works out to 16 international games a year, a number he called the league’s ambition. This season has a record nine, and he said the league is looking to go beyond that figure.
The near-term ceiling is lower. At the fall owners meeting in New York on Tuesday, the league’s head of international games said the NFL is considering up to 10 games abroad in 2027, the most the current labor agreement allows. Reaching 16 would take a change to that agreement with the players. The commissioner had already named Tokyo as a likely future stop when he met French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace on Friday, as we reported from Paris.
On France itself, Goodell pointed to a fan base he described as strong and growing, and he said Paris is one of the cities a league with global plans has to be in. The NFL keeps an office in the city, and the commissioner said that presence stays after the teams fly home. “We don’t want to just play here. We want to be part of the culture,” he said.
A sold-out debut after a week of unrest
The game is sold out. The league counts about 1.4 million regular followers in France, which it ranks as its third-largest market in Europe, and roughly seven in ten fans in the stands are expected to be French, with about a fifth travelling from the United States. Burna Boy performs at halftime.
It goes ahead after two weekends of cost-of-living protests across France, with about 1,000 arrests on Saturday alone. The league kept the date and venue throughout, and our Saturday report has the security plan. Goodell said protests are part of life in any democracy and that the league has worked with local authorities on safety for fans, players and staff.
Paris is one of three first-time hosts this season, along with Melbourne and Rio de Janeiro. Plans for a game in France were held back first by the pandemic and then by the 2024 Olympics.
What comes next
After Paris, the international slate continues with Bengals-Falcons in Madrid on Sunday, Nov. 8, Patriots-Lions in Munich on Sunday, Nov. 15, and Vikings-49ers in Mexico City on Sunday, Nov. 22.
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