https://staging-aws.sports.yahoo.com/spo...51676.html

Good discussion of the liklihood of expansion across various pro sports leagues.

> NBA getting to 32 with Las Vegas and Seattle. All but done.
> MLB getting to 32 with Nashville and Salt Lake City. A bit lesser secure on those cities than the NBA expansion cities but something is happening.
> NHL getting to 33 with Austin or Houston and to 34 with Atlanta or Phoenix seems to be the rough draft plan of the deal. Nothing final.
> NFL expansion seems DOA at the moment. I just don't see any international options outside of Canada that makes long-term sense but I don't believe Canada is a real option.

If the NFL ever does expand, I think it will be internationally. The question is do they start with 2 teams or 4?

With 2:

Both the AFC and NFC receive an overseas expansion team. The new teams are not assigned to divisions and can only win wildcards. For scheduling their 16 games include 1 game against every conference opponent (16) and 2 games against each other. This would result in every US-based NFL team playing abroad every-other year.

With 4:
The new clubs form a Europe Division and each play 6 of their games against other European teams. AFC and NFC distinctions go away and the league just has 9 Divisions. Each Division rotates their schedule so that they play 3 of the other 8 divisions each year. (6 division games + 12 non-division games = 18 games)

(10-09-2026 04:45 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  If the NFL ever does expand, I think it will be internationally. The question is do they start with 2 teams or 4?

With 2:

Both the AFC and NFC receive an overseas expansion team. The new teams are not assigned to divisions and can only win wildcards. For scheduling their 16 games include 1 game against every conference opponent (16) and 2 games against each other. This would result in every US-based NFL team playing abroad every-other year.

With 4:
The new clubs form a Europe Division and each play 6 of their games against other European teams. AFC and NFC distinctions go away and the league just has 9 Divisions. Each Division rotates their schedule so that they play 3 of the other 8 divisions each year. (6 division games + 12 non-division games = 18 games)

I would agree with you on Europe. I have read the NFL has also been considering an Asia/Pacific expansion. The US is tapped out, we already watch plenty of NFL - it's the same problem the NHL has with Canada.

That said if the NHL expands to Europe and/or Asia, there may be opportunities for the NFL to engage with other North American cities to make things easier on non-North American teams during the postseason. The European teams playing playoff games in Orlando or Toronto would head off many of the logistical issues with the postseason.

(10-11-2026 08:35 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  

(10-09-2026 04:45 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  If the NFL ever does expand, I think it will be internationally. The question is do they start with 2 teams or 4?

With 2:

Both the AFC and NFC receive an overseas expansion team. The new teams are not assigned to divisions and can only win wildcards. For scheduling their 16 games include 1 game against every conference opponent (16) and 2 games against each other. This would result in every US-based NFL team playing abroad every-other year.

With 4:
The new clubs form a Europe Division and each play 6 of their games against other European teams. AFC and NFC distinctions go away and the league just has 9 Divisions. Each Division rotates their schedule so that they play 3 of the other 8 divisions each year. (6 division games + 12 non-division games = 18 games)

I would agree with you on Europe. I have read the NFL has also been considering an Asia/Pacific expansion. The US is tapped out, we already watch plenty of NFL - it's the same problem the NHL has with Canada.

That said if the NHL expands to Europe and/or Asia, there may be opportunities for the NFL to engage with other North American cities to make things easier on non-North American teams during the postseason. The European teams playing playoff games in Orlando or Toronto would head off many of the logistical issues with the postseason.

I think this is exactly why intercontinental expansion won't happen. It's a neat talking point but the only thing fans and players care about (other than money) is the playoffs and winning a championship. If you are immediately disqualified from hosting, that really, really sucks for the fans and players.

(10-09-2026 04:45 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  If the NFL ever does expand, I think it will be internationally. The question is do they start with 2 teams or 4?

With 2:

Both the AFC and NFC receive an overseas expansion team. The new teams are not assigned to divisions and can only win wildcards. For scheduling their 16 games include 1 game against every conference opponent (16) and 2 games against each other. This would result in every US-based NFL team playing abroad every-other year.

With 4:
The new clubs form a Europe Division and each play 6 of their games against other European teams. AFC and NFC distinctions go away and the league just has 9 Divisions. Each Division rotates ⁶their schedule so that they play 3 of the other 8 divisions each year. (6 division games + 12 non-division games = 18 games)

Thats an interesting 2-team proposal. So would every 2 years would the 2 international teams switch conferences?

(10-13-2026 11:12 AM)goofus Wrote:  

(10-09-2026 04:45 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  If the NFL ever does expand, I think it will be internationally. The question is do they start with 2 teams or 4?

With 2:

Both the AFC and NFC receive an overseas expansion team. The new teams are not assigned to divisions and can only win wildcards. For scheduling their 16 games include 1 game against every conference opponent (16) and 2 games against each other. This would result in every US-based NFL team playing abroad every-other year.

With 4:
The new clubs form a Europe Division and each play 6 of their games against other European teams. AFC and NFC distinctions go away and the league just has 9 Divisions. Each Division rotates ⁶their schedule so that they play 3 of the other 8 divisions each year. (6 division games + 12 non-division games = 18 games)

Thats an interesting 2-team proposal. So would every 2 years would the 2 international teams switch conferences?

Nah— leave them in the same conference so they begin to develop some rivalries.

They actually would have a lot of possibilities as far as organically forming rivalries because they’d see all 16 teams every year.

(10-12-2026 01:06 PM)BePcr07 Wrote:  

(10-11-2026 08:35 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  

(10-09-2026 04:45 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  If the NFL ever does expand, I think it will be internationally. The question is do they start with 2 teams or 4?

With 2:

Both the AFC and NFC receive an overseas expansion team. The new teams are not assigned to divisions and can only win wildcards. For scheduling their 16 games include 1 game against every conference opponent (16) and 2 games against each other. This would result in every US-based NFL team playing abroad every-other year.

With 4:
The new clubs form a Europe Division and each play 6 of their games against other European teams. AFC and NFC distinctions go away and the league just has 9 Divisions. Each Division rotates their schedule so that they play 3 of the other 8 divisions each year. (6 division games + 12 non-division games = 18 games)

I would agree with you on Europe. I have read the NFL has also been considering an Asia/Pacific expansion. The US is tapped out, we already watch plenty of NFL - it's the same problem the NHL has with Canada.

That said if the NHL expands to Europe and/or Asia, there may be opportunities for the NFL to engage with other North American cities to make things easier on non-North American teams during the postseason. The European teams playing playoff games in Orlando or Toronto would head off many of the logistical issues with the postseason.

I think this is exactly why intercontinental expansion won't happen. It's a neat talking point but the only thing fans and players care about (other than money) is the playoffs and winning a championship. If you are immediately disqualified from hosting, that really, really sucks for the fans and players.

I don’t think the NFL wants to air a playoff game at 9am EST and a trip to Europe and back would be tough on the US team even if they returned victorious. We’re talking expansion clubs so they likely won’t be good for awhile.

The other thing I think the NFL would need to do would be establish practice facilities in a US city or cities with a good international airport to serve as the domestic homes for the European clubs.

Conceivably, a “Europe” team could play an 18 game regular season and in Phase 1, stay stateside the whole season with the exception of 2 stints of 16 days in Europe plus 2 more of 9 days. (9 home games and 1 European road game scheduled in blocks with 2-3 consecutive weeks in Europe.

In Phase 2 with 4 European clubs, they’d probably need to spend more time in Europe as 9 home games and 3 road games would be abroad. This would however only apply if the NFL went to a 9 division schedule. If they assigned the Europe clubs a conference but no division and there was less interplay among the Europe clubs, they could maintain a similarly mostly US based model.