When it comes to global expansion, few sports leagues have been as ambitious or as successful as the NFL in recent years. The 2025 season is shaping up to be a watershed moment not just for American football fans in the United States, but for sports enthusiasts around the world. With the league’s most extensive international schedule to date, new host cities on the horizon, and a growing roster of international stars, the NFL is making good on Commissioner Roger Goodell’s bold vision of turning the game into a truly global phenomenon.
On May 5, 2025, a significant milestone was announced at the very heart of American power. In the Oval Office of the White House, President Donald J. Trump revealed that Washington, DC, will host the 2027 NFL Draft. The announcement, made with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell by his side, marks a symbolic return for the league to the nation’s capital, especially as the Washington Commanders plan to move back into DC with a new stadium on the historic site of Robert F. Kennedy Stadium. The move is more than just a nod to tradition—it’s a signal that the NFL is ready to embrace both its roots and its future on a grand stage.
But the league’s ambitions don’t end at the banks of the Potomac. The 2025 NFL season features a record seven international games, underscoring Goodell’s commitment to expanding the sport’s footprint far beyond U.S. borders. For the first time ever, Ireland and Spain are hosting regular-season NFL games, joining established European strongholds in the UK and Germany. Brazil, which successfully opened the 2024 season in São Paulo, has now hosted its second-ever NFL contest, and the league is already planning for even more games in South America. A multi-year deal will bring at least three regular-season games to Rio de Janeiro over the next five years, starting in 2026.
Australia is next on the list. The Melbourne Cricket Ground is set to host the NFL’s first-ever regular-season game Down Under in 2026, an event that promises to draw crowds from across the Asia-Pacific region. And if Goodell’s comments are any indication, the NFL’s international journey is just getting started. Speaking on the Fitz & Whit Podcast with Ryan Fitzpatrick and Andrew Whitworth, Goodell shared, “I think we’re really going to see our game become global. Every player that I talked to over there, which was a lot. How was the experience? What was good? What was bad? They love the idea that they’re taking the game global, that they’re part of that, that they’re getting to expand their brands on a global basis.”
He’s not kidding about going global. Goodell has outlined ambitions to bring NFL action to Asia, with reports suggesting that the league is considering staging games in the Middle East. “I think our next step after Australia would be probably moving into Asia,” Goodell said. “That’s a continent we’d like to be playing in. We are serious about being a global sport. We would like to get to 16 games so everyone is playing one game a year internationally.” If that vision comes to pass, every NFL team would have at least one international game on its schedule each season—a seismic shift for a league that, just a decade ago, played almost exclusively within U.S. borders.
The league’s international expansion isn’t just about staging games in new locations; it’s also about developing talent and stories that resonate worldwide. Enter Samuel Oram-Jones, whose journey from the world of motorsport to the gridiron is as unlikely as it is inspiring. Oram-Jones, once a promising karting and junior formula racing driver who competed alongside the likes of Max Verstappen and George Russell, found himself at a crossroads when his racing career ended around age 18. Rather than walk away from sport, he pivoted—first to college football at Durham University in the UK, where he won a national championship, and then to the United States, where he chased a Division I dream at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
His path was anything but smooth. After being initially rejected at Vanderbilt, Oram-Jones attended a Tennessee Titans scrimmage at Nissan Stadium, where a chance encounter with then-head coach Mike Vrabel set him on a new course. Vrabel encouraged him to seek out Vanderbilt’s head coach, Derek Mason. Persistence paid off: after a grueling tryout and a string of setbacks—including being denied access to facilities and even a jersey—Oram-Jones eventually secured a scout team position with the Commodores. “A small victory, but a victory,” Oram-Jones reflected, embodying the resilience that has defined his career.
When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down college sports, Oram-Jones refused to let the dream die. He trained with NFL veterans like Frank Gore, tried his luck at USC, and even participated in the Canadian Football League Combine. Injuries, administrative hurdles, and near-misses with professional teams could have ended his journey, but instead, they fueled his determination. His football odyssey took him from Prague, where he played for the Lions in the European League of Football, to Berlin with the Thunder, and then to Tokyo, where he suited up for the All Mitsubishi Lions in Japan’s X-League.
Oram-Jones’s story is a microcosm of the NFL’s international ambitions: full of twists, setbacks, and unexpected triumphs. His time in Japan, in particular, offered a window into a unique football culture. “The Japanese people are so eager to learn and also to teach foreign people about themselves, they’re so forthcoming that anytime you meet somebody, if they can help you, they’re so respectful in the way that they do with understanding,” Oram-Jones told Sky Sports. He described Japan’s X-League as the most professionally run league outside North America, a testament to the country’s meticulous approach to both sport and life.
Meanwhile, as the NFL pushes the envelope on global expansion, it’s also tackling challenges closer to home—namely, the perennial debate over officiating. Recent controversies, like the Week 6 clash between the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions, have put the spotlight on the league’s referees. Goodell isn’t shying away from the issue. “Technology is changing our lives. It changes the way we play the game, [and] it changes the way we watch the game. We have to embrace it… Officiating is a great example of that,” he said on the Fitz & Whit Podcast. He acknowledged that while perfection on the field is impossible, leveraging artificial intelligence could help officials make fewer mistakes and keep up with the ever-increasing speed of the game. “We have to give them the tools to try to be better and keep up with the game. And I think technology will be that way.”
With plans for more international games, a new wave of global stars, and a commitment to technological innovation, the NFL’s future looks as bright—and as unpredictable—as Samuel Oram-Jones’s own sporting journey. Whether you’re watching from the stands in Washington, DC, the beaches of Brazil, or the karaoke bars of Tokyo, one thing is clear: American football is no longer just America’s game. The world is watching, and the next chapter is only just beginning.
