The NFL revealed its international schedule for 2022 on Wednesday. There will be five games outside of the US borders this season. With games in three different countries, Pat McAfee says clearly the London experiment has worked.
On Tuesday’s edition of The Pat McAfee Show, Colts owner Jim Irsay compared expanding the international game to space travel. He said that look at how long it took to get to the moon and then how long since we went to the moon we have been working on getting to Mars. Expanding the international footprint beyond a single game in London is similar. Only now are we starting to see multiple European stadiums get games.
The NFL is also returning to Mexico this year. That made McAfee speculate about what international destinations could be on the table for the league in the future.
“I also think a game would do very well in Australia,” McAfee said. “Now, that would be very inconvenient for all parties, because that’s like a 31-hour trip, but Australia would fill up a stadium I think.”
Co-host AJ Hawk countered that he didn’t think there were many countries that would be incapable of filling a stadium for one game. McAfee and crew cited Russia, North Korea, and China as likely not being eager to see NFL football.
The conversation then turned to what it would take to get a team in London full-time. Pat McAfee got the impression from Irsay that it is a goal for the league. The people involved just haven’t figured out how to do it in a way that makes sense.
“Sounds like the issue is the travel and the logistics of it. So, look for the NFL to invest in new planes,” McAfee joked.
