Aaron Rodgers wants the NFL to take its international expansion to another level, but the league’s decision-makers are not buying his preferred plan for now. After the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback proposed staging every international game in the same week, NFL owners and management have shown virtually no support for the idea. Sources also dispute Rodgers’ claim that the proposal was discussed during negotiations for the league’s current collective bargaining agreement.
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“You’d be competing against yourself” by playing all the international games in the same week,” a source (familiar with the bargaining process) told Front Office Sports. “The source dismissed the proposal as ‘a nonsensical concept.’”
Another source was equally firm when asked whether the plan had been discussed during formal negotiations in 2020. “That’s bizarre,” the source said. “I’m quite sure we never talked about a 16-game season with two byes and 16 international games in one week.”
A second source added: “It never came up.”
The response is a setback for Rodgers, who raised the idea after Pittsburgh’s 16-10 victory over the New Orleans Saints in Paris on October 25. The game was the NFL’s first regular-season contest in France, and the veteran quarterback used the occasion to argue that the league could do more to grow its global audience while giving players a better travel schedule.
“There was talk about doing a week, an international week where you had games in 16 different places and you just added an extra bye week,” Rodgers said. “So you’d play 16 regular-season [games]. You’d have two bye weeks. One of those weeks would have been an international week.”
Rodgers believes the arrangement would have benefited the sport. Under his proposal, all 32 teams would play in 16 international locations during the same week, with the season returning to 16 games and each team receiving two bye weeks instead of one.
“I think it’d have been phenomenal for the game,” Rodgers said.
He also suggested owners pushed for a 17th regular-season game to bring in more revenue, making a dedicated international week less likely. Nevertheless, the league isn’t interested in Rodgers’ proposal, but it’s still looking to expand its international games.
NFL Still Plans to Expand Overseas
The NFL has nine international games scheduled for 2026, spread across nine weeks and seven countries. The games are scheduled to take place in Australia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, and Mexico.
The league has also approved up to 10 international games per season after 2026. Commissioner Roger Goodell has said he wants to reach 16 games a year, potentially alongside an 18-game regular season. That plan would require further talks with the NFL Players Association.
The 2020 collective bargaining agreement expanded the regular season from 16 games to 17. But it also says the additional week cannot consist entirely of international games. That would require changes to the current agreement.
Rodgers has also questioned how teams approach international trips. After the Paris game, he said the NFL should make teams arrive earlier, spend more time in the host city, and participate in community events. He also suggested team owners were unwilling to pay for those extra activities.
His concerns about travel have found some support among players. Eagles running back Saquon Barkley has backed international games as a way to grow the sport, while arguing that teams should have a bye week after playing abroad to help manage the demands of travel.
Rodgers’ proposal has little support from the owners and league officials who would have to approve it. The NFL plans to add more international games, but spread them across the season rather than hold them all in one week.