The NFL has a problem, and it's not on the field. It's in the skies. With nine international games locked in for the 2026 season—spanning from Week 1 all the way to Week 11—the league is sending a clear message: global expansion is the priority. But the home crowd isn't buying it.
American football is, at its core, an American sport. The NFL is a ratings juggernaut, a live-event titan, and a cultural staple. But commissioner Roger Goodell's push to plant the flag in Europe, Asia, and South America is starting to feel less like a showcase and more like a takeover. The league has been staging games overseas for over a decade, but the 2026 slate—with games scattered across the early weeks—has fans crying foul.
“We have to chill with these international games. No one wants 9am football every week,” one fan vented on social media. Another wrote, “Pure greed. The fans don’t want this. The players don’t want this. Hard to believe the teams losing a home game want this.” The sentiment is echoed across online forums, where the word “greed” appears as often as “Goodell.”
It's not just the armchair quarterbacks who are frustrated. Coaches and players are openly pushing back. San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, whose team will kick off the season abroad, didn't mince words. “I don’t see any pro [for us],” he said earlier this year. “It’s cool for the league to play globally. I think that’s awesome. But as far as the team doing it, no, there’s not much benefit to it.”
Former NFL superstar J.J. Watt weighed in with a sharp critique, calling the international game slate a “traveling circus as opposed to occasional showcase.” His former colleague Kyle Van Noy agreed, adding, “It’s all they care about in my opinion because it’s the biggest growth which means money.” That sentiment—that the league is chasing revenue at the expense of quality—is a recurring theme.
The players aren't the only ones feeling the strain. The 2026 schedule also forces teams to sacrifice a home game, which can hurt local economies and fan traditions. And while the league has toyed with the idea of relocating a franchise or even the Super Bowl overseas, the backlash suggests that the American audience—the very foundation of the NFL's success—is being taken for granted.
This isn't just a scheduling gripe; it's a symptom of a larger tension. The NFL's global ambitions are clashing with the reality that its core product is built on domestic passion. The 2026 NFL draft viewership dip may already be signaling a disconnect, and the international games could widen that gap.
To be clear, the NFL isn't going to stop chasing international dollars. But there's a difference between a global showcase and a traveling circus. If the league keeps pushing, it risks losing the very fans who made it the biggest show on earth. Maybe it's time to rein it in—before the 9 a.m. kickoffs become a permanent headache.
