NFL might change key scheduling policy for international games, vote to add two more matchups, per reports

Are more changes coming to the NFL's international schedule?

The NFL will be holding a record-setting nine international games during the upcoming season and that number could be going up as soon as next year. 

According to multiple reports, the NFL owners are meeting in Orlando this week where they'll be voting on the possibility of adding two more games to the international schedule for the 2027 season. If the vote is approved, that means we could see as many as 11 games played out of the country next year. 

Under the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA), the NFL is only allowed to move up to 10 games out of the country each season, so this would put the league at the highest maximum number permitted under the CBA. The Jaguars game at Wembley Stadium doesn't count toward the CBA total, so the league is allowed to schedule 10 games on top of that, which is why we could see 11 next year if the owners approve the measure. 

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has made it clear that he'd eventually like to see 16 international games per season, but we're not quite there yet. The NFL Players Association and the NFL will have to ratify the CBA before that can happen, but it does feel like something that we'll eventually see along with an 18-game regular season. 

Why the international slate will likely only get better 

Not only is the NFL setting a record this year for the most international games ever played in one season, but this is arguably the best slate of games that league has ever sent abroad. 

Here's what the international schedule looks like this year:

• Week 1: Melbourne -- Rams vs. 49ers 
• Week 3: Rio de Janeiro -- Cowboys vs. Ravens
• Week 4: London -- Commanders vs. Colts (Tottenham Hotspur Stadium)
• Week 5: London -- Jaguars vs. Texans (Wembley Stadium)
• Week 6: London -- Jaguars vs. Eagles (Tottenham Hotspur Stadium)
• Week 7: Paris -- Saints vs. Steelers
• Week 9: Madrid -- Falcons vs. Bengals
• Week 10: Munich -- Lions vs. Patriots
• Week 11: Mexico City -- 49ers vs. Vikings

The NFL first started playing in London back in 2007, but for the most part, the matchups sent to England just weren't attractive. As a matter of fact, it took 15 years before the league sent a game to England that featured a game between two teams that BOTH had a winning record. The big reason why the matchups weren't very attractive is because the league had a policy in place that allowed home international teams to protect up to five games on their schedule to prevent them from being moved abroad.

When the NFL played 16 games, there were eight home games and the international home team could protect 62.5% of those, getting a good matchup was tough, but things have now changed. As of this year, teams are only allowed to protect two games, and going forward, there's a very real possibility that teams will only be allowed to protect ONE game, according to Mike North, the NFL's vice president of broadcast planning. 

"Clubs right now, by resolution, have an opportunity to protect a minimum -- a limited number -- of home opponents from being taken for international venues," North said after the schedule came out, via PFT. "That's something this league's been discussing quite a bit and, like I said, at the beginning, it used to be four or five games protected, got down to three games protected. I think we're down now to two, and that may continue to diminish as we are trying to build a schedule and deliver quality inventory to our international fans."

The protected games are a big reason why the Cowboys almost never play abroad. If a team is playing the Cowboys at home, they don't want to lose it, so they protect the game, which prevents it from being moved to an international location. The Cowboys have only played one international game in franchise history and that came in 2014 against the Jaguars in London. This year, the Cowboys will be leaving the country again, but they'll be serving as the home team for a matchup against the Ravens in Rio de Janeiro. 

With fewer games being protected, that allows the NFL to send more marquee games abroad. 

"You know, you can't have a team say, 'Well, I don't want my two best games ineligible for international.' What kind of message does that send to the international fans," North said. 

North also said that at some point, the NFL might just drop the protection policy altogether. 

"So I think there's a lot of conversation about really just eliminating the protections in their entirety," North said. "So [I'm] hopeful that the protections continue to diminish and maybe even are eliminated entirely. I think that would be better for everybody -- not just the international fans, but also for the teams that might want to play internationally and keep getting blocked."

What this all means is that there's soon going to be more international games on the schedule and those games are going to be bigger and better than they've ever been.