Brodie Brazil suggested recently on his YouTube that he thought the next step in NFL expansion would be 2 teams in Europe.

He didn’t get into the specifics of how that would impact alignment but I think the logical move would be that 1 enters the AFC and the other the NFC.

For a 17 game schedule, they play 1 game against each of their conference opponents (16) and the 17th game against each other, so affectively they would only qualify as a wildcard.

This would mean 1 trip abroad every 2 years for each of the US based teams.


36 teams—
I think you could eventually scale this up to 4 teams abroad, assigning a 2nd European team to each conference and:

The 4 Euro teams play double round robin among themselves. They’d then play 11 games against US-based Conference opponents. That’s 22 games against Euro teams divided among 16 teams or approximately 2 trips to Europe every 3 seasons.

(08-10-2026 04:04 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Brodie Brazil suggested recently on his YouTube that he thought the next step in NFL expansion would be 2 teams in Europe.

He didn’t get into the specifics of how that would impact alignment but I think the logical move would be that 1 enters the AFC and the other the NFC.

For a 17 game schedule, they play 1 game against each of their conference opponents (16) and the 17th game against each other, so affectively they would only qualify as a wildcard.

This would mean 1 trip abroad every 2 years for each of the US based teams.


36 teams—
I think you could eventually scale this up to 4 teams abroad, assigning a 2nd European team to each conference and:

The 4 Euro teams play double round robin among themselves. They’d then play 11 games against US-based Conference opponents. That’s 22 games against Euro teams divided among 16 teams or approximately 2 trips to Europe every 3 seasons.

I actually think going straight from 32 to 36 with a European Division is the more likely outcome.

Everyone's schedule would look like this:

6 Division Games
8 non-division games against two entire divisions
4 non-division games based on prior year's standings (note there would be six possible opponents, these would rotate)

The real issue would be the playoffs, as not all division winners can get a home game, unless if you introduce a bye after the first round. The lowest-seedeed winners from the first round play in the second round, everyone else advances to the third round. This also scales easily when the NFL adds a tenth division when they inevitably expand to Latin America.

There of course are also the logistical issues created when the Chargers have a first round game in London, or Berlin has a playoff game in Arizona.

9 divisions? That doesn’t work. You can’t put 16 teams in 1 conference and 20 in the other. That’s why I think it makes the most sense to split the Euro teams between the 2 conferences but not give them a division—it also means you don’t have to worry about a European team hosting a playoff game.

(08-10-2026 08:33 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  9 divisions? That doesn’t work. You can’t put 16 teams in 1 conference and 20 in the other. That’s why I think it makes the most sense to split the Euro teams between the 2 conferences but not give them a division—it also means you don’t have to worry about a European team hosting a playoff game.

With 9 divisions there would be no AFC/NFC - just a single playoff bracket. The divisions could still be called AFC and NFC whatever, but there would not actually be any conferences. This could be a permanent chanve even if there were an even number of divisions again in the future.

I also could see the NFL using places like Orlando or Toronto as a playoff base for European teams (and San Antonio should they expand to South America). This would eliminate the possibility of back-and-forth intercontinental travel during the playoffs. Orlando works because of weather, monstrous hotel capacity, and easy air connections to Europe. Toronto does not have the weather advantage, but assuming Rogers Centre can still accommodate a football field, it would be indoors, a large market, and the playoffs would not interfere with the MLB and CFL seasons (and I know the Argos play at BMO Field, but their season wraps in October or November and doesn't start until the summer).

Once the NFL adds 2 teams in Euope, I say its time to go to geographic conferences and divisions

Atlantic-9
NE, NYJ, Buf, Miami, Jax
NYG, Phil, Wash,
London A team

East-8
Balt, Pitt, Cle, Cincy,
Car, Arl, Tam,
London B team

Western conference

Pacific-8
LAR, SF,, ARIZ, Sea,
LAC, LV, Den, KC

Central-9
Minn, GB, Chi, Det,
Indy, Tenn, Hou,
NO, Dal

Mike Florio discusses a 40-team NFL, and what he feels will be the eventually elimination of the preseason:

https://youtu.be/skeQVKXb9RU?is=O67X_MqYJjlrC54y

Going into the Asia/Pacific region definitely presents some operational challenges as Tokyo is 16 hours ahead of Los Angeles.

(08-10-2026 08:49 PM)chargeradio Wrote:  

(08-10-2026 08:33 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  9 divisions? That doesn’t work. You can’t put 16 teams in 1 conference and 20 in the other. That’s why I think it makes the most sense to split the Euro teams between the 2 conferences but not give them a division—it also means you don’t have to worry about a European team hosting a playoff game.

With 9 divisions there would be no AFC/NFC - just a single playoff bracket. The divisions could still be called AFC and NFC whatever, but there would not actually be any conferences. This could be a permanent chanve even if there were an even number of divisions again in the future.

I also could see the NFL using places like Orlando or Toronto as a playoff base for European teams (and San Antonio should they expand to South America). This would eliminate the possibility of back-and-forth intercontinental travel during the playoffs. Orlando works because of weather, monstrous hotel capacity, and easy air connections to Europe. Toronto does not have the weather advantage, but assuming Rogers Centre can still accommodate a football field, it would be indoors, a large market, and the playoffs would not interfere with the MLB and CFL seasons (and I know the Argos play at BMO Field, but their season wraps in October or November and doesn't start until the summer).

The Rogers Centre lower bowl cannot rotate like the original bowl. Any field would run from home plate to center field.