NFL Considering 4-Team European Expansion

The NFL is adding two more international games to the schedule in 2025, moving from five to seven total throughout the regular season.

The Minnesota Vikings are serving as guinea pigs as the only team to play two back-to-back games on foreign soil.

While this travel will create some challenges, it may be an evaluation into how a multi-week international trip would impact a US-based team.

This idea is reportedly one of the many efforts in the NFL's consideration to add an expansion franchise with permanent residence in a European country.

According to Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio, there may be a push for the league to add a four-team division in Europe where the NFL could have at least one international game every week.

"Per a source with knowledge of the situation, NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell has been actively discussing the pros and cons of putting multiple teams — and more than 200 union jobs — on another continent," Florio said.

None of these plans are set in stone, but the growing talk among league's executives tells us this could become a reality in the near future. However, the idea behind adding four expansion franchises and likely a league headquarters across the pond could easily become a logistical nightmare.

One suggestion from Florio is to group the NFC West and AFC West teams into one conference and add the European division to the other conference.

The expansion teams would need to stay grouped together to ensure a 17-week calendar includes at least one international game every week. Having multiple international franchises would avoid having one standalone team be required to travel to the US for every game.

The success of the Vikings' trips to Dublin and London in Weeks 4-5 will be monitored, as multiple domestic teams would end up with consecutive international games in this format as well.

This large of a change to league structure would demand major changes to conference alignment to avoid unfair travel or competition advantages. The thought of including one - let alone four - brand new franchises makes this all that much harder to piece together.

London is reportedly an early favorite to land an NFL team, according to commissioner Roger Goodell.