NFL extends international deal
(October 7 2015)
NFL games will continue to be played outside the United States through to 2025, following an agreement between the team owners.
Regular-season international games have been played at Wembley since 2007 and the new deal will see countries other than England hosting the matches.
Last Sunday a crowd of 83,986 watched the New York Jets defeat the Miami Dolphins in the 12th International Series game to be hosted at Wembley since the NFL first took competitive games to London.
Wembley will host two more games in this campaign and another slate of games in 2016, while the NFL recently announced a deal with Tottenham's new stadium which will see at least two games per season played there for 10 years when it is due to open in 2018.
The NFL has now confirmed it remains committed to taking the sport abroad for the next 10 years and Mexico, Germany and Canada are among those interested in regular-season games, with Mexico a front-runner next year.
"This marks an important step in our long-term international growth," said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
"Fans in the UK have responded incredibly well to the regular-season games we have played in London since 2007. They have demanded more NFL games, and we have worked to accommodate them.
"We think it's time to expand our International Series to other countries and respond to the growing interest in our game not only in the UK, but elsewhere around the world."
Roger Goodell "Fans in the UK have responded incredibly well to the regular-season games we have played in London since 2007."
Roger Goodell
The league also is looking at moving the Pro Bowl to international sites, with Brazil having expressed an interest, while Australia and Asia are also potential sites.
The Buffalo Bills, Wembley-bound themselves later this month, played six games in Canada between 2008 and 2013 but fewer than 40,000 spectators attended their last fixture at the Rogers Centre.
Mexico is the only other nation to have staged a regular-season game when the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals met in front of 103,467 fans in Mexico City in 2005.