NFL weighing up to 10 international games next season as Paris security tightens

The NFL's international footprint could grow again in 2027. League executive Peter O'Reilly said the NFL is considering as many as 10 games abroad next season, the ceiling permitted under the current collective bargaining agreement with the players.

That number would represent the broadest international schedule the league has staged, and it arrives in a season where the NFL is already playing a game in Paris. Reaching the CBA maximum is a decision that would ripple into scheduling, travel and the number of home dates clubs surrender, which is why the league frames 10 as something under consideration rather than a settled plan.

This week's game in Paris is drawing attention for a different reason. O'Reilly said security will be heightened around Steelers-Saints given the civil unrest in the city, while stressing that the league maintains a security presence at every game.

The NFL had already confirmed the game would be played as scheduled despite the unrest, and O'Reilly's comments extend that commitment with a concrete operational answer: more security, with team and fan safety described as the priority. That is the practical side of the international push — staging games abroad requires the league to manage local conditions it does not control, from field surfaces to public safety.

Both threads point the same direction. The NFL is not treating international games as an experiment to be scaled back; it is weighing its maximum allowance while absorbing the complications that come with it. Whether that lands at 10 next season will be one of the more consequential scheduling decisions on the league calendar, and the Paris game this week will be a live test of the logistics involved.