The NFL could have had a week dedicated to international games if an initial plan came to fruition, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said after Sunday’s win over the New Orleans Saints in Paris.
The idea, he noted, was first broached during the 2011 negotiations for the collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players. The topic arose again in 2020.
“So you’d play 16 regular-season games,” Rodgers told reporters after the game. “You have two bye weeks. One of those weeks would have been an international week. I think it’d [have] been phenomenal for the game.”
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The radical schedule change never came to pass. Instead, the league introduced a 17th regular-season game for the 2021 season.
“Now, the owners wanted to push for 17 games for the extra revenue because they care so much about player safety, but it would have been nice. …” Rodgers said. “I think there are great opportunities for expansion in those things, It’d be awesome to see them, you know, have an international week because I think it’s great for the game and the expansion of the game.”
Rodgers and the Steelers, as the away team, only flew over to Paris on Thursday night. Their time in the city was limited. The ongoing protests and demonstrations also caused several fan outreach events to be cancelled or rescheduled.
Regardless, Pittsburgh’s 42-year-old quarterback has his own ideas for how teams would grow their footprint ahead of international games.
“I think they should mandate every team coming over Sunday or Monday to really enjoy the culture and the place you’re going. You could do events in those cities and outreach stuff and community work,” Rodgers said, noting that the NFL wouldn’t because it is “tight on money.”
The three-time MVP did not play overseas until 2022, when he led the Green Bay Packers to victory over the New York Giants in London. His passport has filled up in recent years, though.
On Sunday, Rodgers became the first NFL quarterback to play in three different countries in three years. The run began with a trip to London with the New York Jets in 2024. He then started for the Steelers in the league’s first Dublin, Ireland, game in 2025, before starting in the NFL’s Paris debut on Sunday.
“You know, I said it earlier this week: ’I wish we could have come over and enjoyed the sights both in Ireland and in France for a little more time,’” Rodgers told Front Office Sports. “But it’s great the way the game is growing.”
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