Back in January 2024, one-time Most Valuable Player and current NFL analyst Boomer Esiason hinted the league was closer to shifting to an 18-game regular-season format than some realized. Since then, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has made it known
on numerous occasions he thinks adding an 18th regular-season contest to the schedule is the “logical” next step for the league.
During Friday’s edition of the WFAN morning show, Esiason offered a prediction about a European NFL division that has been rumored for years.
“I’m gonna tell you right now, by 2029 — maybe 2028 — there will be an NFL division in Europe,” Esiason said, as shared by Ryan Chichester of Audacy. “There are gonna be four teams over there. There’s gonna be an NFL division over there. Total expansion. There are so many billionaires out there right now who want a piece of this. It’s gonna happen. And then they will go to an 18-game schedule.”
Per John Breech of CBS Sports, Goodell said back in the fall of 2022 that he felt there was “no question that London could support not just one” but two NFL franchises.
“We’re trying to sort of see, could you have multiple locations in Europe where you could have an NFL franchise? Because it would be easier as a division,” Goodell added at that time.
Individuals such as The Athletic’s Eduardo Tansley routinely touch upon the NFL’s growing popularity in countries such as England, Germany, France and Spain. For the 2025 season, the New York Jets, Cleveland Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars will each play a game in London. The Indianapolis Colts will serve as the designated team for a contest held in Berlin, Germany, while the Miami Dolphins will play as the designated club for a matchup held in the city of Madrid.
Some insiders are convinced the NFL will soon look to hold a Super Bowl in either Europe or Australia.
As far back as the fall of 2015, NFL Hall of Famer Dan Marino noted how teams could “go on the road for three or four weeks at a time” as part of adding a European division to the NFL. On Friday, Esiason suggested the wheels for such expansion may already be in motion.
“It will be interesting to see if they do two teams in London, or maybe one in London, one in Frankfurt, and one in Madrid. I’m just telling you, they’re getting ready to expand … it’s gonna happen,” Esiason added during the show segment.
Perhaps the real question is: Will the NFL stop at 36 total teams or look to expand beyond just one division over the next 10 years or so?
