Winners and Losers From the 2026 NFL International Slate
The official NFL schedule release isn’t for a few hours, but the full international slate has already been revealed.
Remember when an international NFL game felt novel? Quaint, even? “Oh, it’s cute that the Jacksonville Jaguars moonlight as London’s team!” Yeah, those days are firmly in Roger Goodell’s rearview, and all he sees now is unending land outside of the United States on which to plop more NFL games.
The Jaguars will still host their two annual games. But that has become a footnote to the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams playing the NFL’s first-ever regular-season game in Australia, the Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens clashing in Rio, or the New Orleans Saints going from the French Quarter to literal France to face the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL’s first-ever Paris game.
See the full schedule for the international games in the 2026 NFL season here, and read our winners and losers from the slate below.
Winner: Jacksonville Jaguars
As noted above, the Jaguars are used to this.
Jacksonville played one home game at London’s famed Wembley Stadium from 2013 to 2019 and have since expanded to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Jaguars have played 14 international games since 2013 - the most international games by any NFL team since 2007, per Yahoo! Sports. While they’re only 7-7 in those games, they still hold an advantage over teams for whom factoring international travel into game preparation isn’t routine.
Next season, the Jaguars will stay put in London for two straight weeks, which emphasizes that theoretical advantage. First, they’ll host the Philadelphia Eagles at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Oct. 11, followed by a game against the Houston Texans at Wembley on Oct. 18.
Loser: San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers have unfortunately planted their flag atop the most-injured list for the past several seasons, and they’ve already got an injury designation before the 2026 season begins: Chronically weary travelers.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Bill Speros, the 49ers will log the most miles traveled next season at 38,105. The Rams are second at 34,847. The reason they’re the top two is fairly simple: They have to travel to Melbourne, Australia, for the league’s first-ever regular-season Australian game on Friday, Sept. 11.
The 49ers will also have to travel to Mexico City to face the Minnesota Vikings on Nov. 22.
Winner: Mike Vrabel
The New England Patriots as a whole aren’t winners, because going to Munich to face the Detroit Lions will not be easy. But Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel might get a break if his scandal involving what may or may not have been an affair with Dianna Russini, the since-resigned senior NFL insider at The Athletic, hasn’t made it into the German news cycle.
The Lions will be the designated home team at FC Bayern Munich Stadium, so there should be one fewer away game in which Vrabel is subjected to ruthless taunting.
Loser: Madrid
What has Madrid ever done to the NFL league office?
The Miami Dolphins and Washington Commanders played the league’s first-ever Spain game at Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid in Week 11. By then, Commanders star quarterback Jayden Daniels had dislocated his elbow, and the Dolphins were ready to move on from struggling quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. So, fans in Madrid had the distinct pleasure of witnessing a rock fight between Tagovailoa and Marcus Mariota that resulted in a 16-13 overtime win by Miami.
Fans at the game likely walked away offended.
Next season, the Cincinnati Bengals and Atlanta Falcons will visit The Bernabéu on Nov. 8. On paper, Joe Burrow is a global star and a substantial upgrade in quarterback play, but he has also missed substantial time with injuries in two of the past three seasons. I am not speaking this into existence by any means, but his injury history suggests that it’s a coin flip whether he’ll be under center for the Bengals by Week 9. Joe Flacco, anyone?
Not to mention, the Falcons have Tagovailoa now, and there will be a quarterback competition between him and Michael Penix Jr., who is recovering from a November ACL reconstruction surgery. Madrid fans saw Tagovailoa once; they don’t need to see him again.
Burrow is the straw that stirs the drink here. If he’s healthy and suited up in Madrid, then The Bernabéu could enjoy a light show. If not, well, let’s just hope Burrow plays.
Winner: Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys haven’t reached the NFC Championship Game, much less the Super Bowl, since the 1995 season. Nevertheless, the Cowboys, as an entertainment and marketing enterprise, persist as “America’s Team.” Jerry Jones will expand The Star’s reach in South America.
Dallas will face the Baltimore Ravens at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Sept. 27. Shockingly, it will be the Cowboys’ first international game since 2014. Nobody does spectacle like the Cowboys, so even if the game itself - an unlikely outcome between two star-studded teams - doesn’t deliver, fans in Rio are guaranteed to get a show.
Loser: American NFL fans
“International game slate is nearing the realm of traveling circus as opposed to occasional showcase,” J.J. Watt posted on X on Wednesday.
No lies detected.
There will be a record nine international games next season. I would ask, who is this for? But that is basically a rhetorical question. Turning the NFL into a global behemoth benefits commissioner Roger Goodell and his wealthy counterparts, and, yes, it benefits fans abroad who otherwise would never get a chance to experience the NFL in person.
But fans back home in America have to deal with inconvenient game times, one fewer home game to attend, and the increasingly ubiquitous sense that NFL Sundays just don’t mean what they used to. For example, the 2026 season will kick off on a Wednesday (?!) with the defending champion Seattle Seahawks hosting the Patriots in a Super Bowl LX rematch to accommodate the 49ers and Rams’ game in Australia on Thursday night.
How long before another Artemis crew is assembled with the sole mission of fielding a game on the moon’s surface on a Tuesday?
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This story was originally published May 14, 2026 at 3:46 PM.