Roger Goodell seems adamant about making the NFL global. With the international schedule already being bumped up to a 9-game total this year, he plans to add more in the future. While that’s all good for the game, players and teams have concerns with this pursuit. The Pittsburgh Steelers, who will play the New Orleans Saints in Paris, might not be too keen.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo was on a live fan chat when a fan joked about guessing which Steelers player would get mugged this time in Paris. Fittipaldo wasn’t amused.

“You joke, but teams really are concerned about that when they go to these European cities,” he replied.

Last year, backup quarterback Skylar Thompson was “jumped and robbed” in Dublin the day before Pittsburgh was set to play the Minnesota Vikings. Thompson lost his phone and suffered some minor injuries. No details of the incident were made public, except the official confirmation that police became “involved” after they “encountered a male who required medical assistance,” per the Independent. Whether Thompson’s assailants were caught is still unknown.

Team security is an important aspect of the logistics behind organizing these games. Even though European cities are known for low crime rates — Madrid, for example, has often featured as one of the safest cities in Europe — risks can present at any time. Pickpocketing, for example, is very common in Paris, especially in touristy areas.

The Steelers might as well keep their itinerary to the hotel, the stadium, and back. Going out would mean being on guard the whole time.

When the Philadelphia Eagles played the Green Bay Packers in Brazil in 2024, players were concerned about security. São Paulo’s state government released a statement confirming that “reinforced” security would accompany the players to their hotels, training grounds, and the Corinthians arena.

“I do not want to go to Brazil,” cornerback Darius Slay said in a podcast before the game. “They already told us not to leave the hotel. They told us we can’t do too much, because the crime rate is crazy.” He later apologized if he’d offended anyone with those comments, but Brazil’s crime rate is unignorably high. Slay told his family not to join him.

The NFL returns to Brazil this year with a matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys.

Roger Goodell, however, has no plans of stopping the league’s expansion. He is planning to roll out 16 international games sometime in the future, so that each team gets one game.

“That’s an important mark to shoot for and I think we’re on our way,” Goodell told the press ahead of Super Bowl LX.

Not many are hyped about the NFL’s push for international games

“It’s cool for the league to play globally,” San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said. “I think that’s awesome. But as far as the team doing it, no, there’s not much benefit to it.”

The 49ers have to take a 15-ish-hour flight to Melbourne to play their very first game of the season. The Steelers and Cowboys both have to travel nearly 10 hours to get to their respective international destinations. Recouping from all that travel alone will be a hassle. To make matters worse, the players will face the same problem when they return to the States to resume their season.

“Some teams will fly out days early, some will fly out the day before, some will stay near the practice site,” NFL Players Association’s interim director, David White, said at a presser ahead of Super Bowl LX. “Some will have lengthy commutes for the players after that travel when they’re getting over jetlag, et cetera. And then the games following and whether or not there’s a period of real restoration for their bodies, that, too, is inconsistent.

“… [All] of that needs to be accounted for if we’re going to talk about moving even further away or having more international games.”

Bottom line is, it’s going to be a wild ride of games for players when the NFL does roll out its 16-game overseas plan.