The NFL plans to keep adding games on unusual days only when they make sense, its top media executive said this week. He also said a Super Bowl outside the United States still feels a long way off.
Hans Schroeder, the league’s executive vice president and chief media officer, spoke Tuesday at a sports-business summit in New York. He said the 17-game season is working well, but that fans “would love” an 18th game if the league and the NFL Players Association ever agree to one.
“We’re going to be selective”
This season already stretches past the usual Thursday, Sunday and Monday schedule. The opener between New England and Seattle was played on a Wednesday, with Rams–49ers in Australia the next night. The league has also scheduled a Wednesday game on Thanksgiving eve, a game on Black Friday, Christmas Day games on a Friday and late-season Saturday games. Our Thanksgiving week guide has that full slate.
“We’re going to be selective,” Schroeder said of future schedules. “I don’t think what you’re going to see is playing Wednesday football throughout the year. But if there’s opportunities to do something creative like we did on Wednesday and Thanksgiving eve or like Christmas became on those certain days, we’re going to look at it.” He added that the league will then check the viewing numbers to make sure they back up its instincts.
A Super Bowl abroad? “A little bit far”
The NFL has nine international games on this year’s schedule, including the first regular-season game in Paris on October 25. Owners and league leaders have floated as many as 16 a season, possibly alongside an 18-game schedule. Under the labor agreement, though, the league must consult the players’ union to go beyond 10 international games in a season.
Schroeder was cautious about taking the Super Bowl overseas. “That feels a little bit far to me. But, like, that’s not my call, at the end of the day,” he said, pointing to the run of U.S. host cities already lined up. “I think there’s a lot of runway here in the U.S.” The next one, Super Bowl LXI, is set for February 2027 in Inglewood, California, as laid out in our playoff calendar.
A global window for streaming
Schroeder also described the international games as a chance to build a “consistent window” that could appeal to “a global streamer” with worldwide reach. He did not name a company. Most international games have aired early in the morning in the United States, while recent Week 1 games abroad have gone to streaming services, with this year’s game on Netflix.
18 games and the next TV deals
The current labor deal runs through the 2030 season and bars the league from adding regular-season games on its own. The NFL’s media contracts, signed in 2021, are worth more than $110 billion over 11 years, and the league can opt out of most of them after the 2029 season. Schroeder would not say whether the league needs an 18-game agreement before its next round of TV deals, and he did not commit to using the opt-out.
“People love the 17-game model right now,” he said. “I think if there was an opportunity for an 18th, I think our fans would love that, too. But, look, there’s a time and place for that.”
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