NFL teams must play one international 'home' game every eight years?

The NFL understandably canceled last season's games set to be held at Wembley Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, and also at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It's hoped international series contests will return later this year, and it appears they will carry a new twist starting in 2022. 

Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal (h/t Pro Football Talk) reports that each NFL team will be required to play one "home" game outside of the United States at least once every eight years as part of the upcoming switch to a 17-game regular-season format. 

The news isn't all that surprising, as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has been keen on growing the league's popularity outside of the U.S. for well over a decade. In February, Sky Sports' Richard Graves noted how viewers in the United Kingdom flocked to NFL broadcasts throughout the 2020 season and made the Super Bowl LV showing the region's most popular NFL title game in over 30 years. 

As Michael David Smith wrote for PFT, the Jacksonville Jaguars have previously offered to play at least one home game in London each season, and some have wondered if the Jaguars or a different franchise could either split time between the two countries or make the NFL-ready Tottenham Hotspur stadium a full-time home venue. 

The Jaguars, Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons and Miami Dolphins were scheduled to serve as home teams for international games last year.