Chiefs add these nations to marketing rights list. It could lead to overseas games
The Chiefs’ list of nations for marketing and commercialization rights grew on Monday when the NFL announced that the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain will be part of the league’s Global Markets Program.
Starting in April, the Chiefs can begin hosting events to engage fans in those nations, launch advertising campaigns, sign local sponsorship deals and extend sponsorships internationally.
The Chiefs already have marketing rights in Mexico, Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
Also, the Chiefs will explore playing regular-season games in these countries as part of the league’s International Series.
Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt said the team has its hand up when it comes to playing globally.
“As a general thought process on playing international games, we’re willing to do it whenever the opportunity presents itself,” Hunt said Monday at the NFL Annual Meeting in West Palm Beach, Florida. “And we don’t have a lot of control over that, except periodically, whatever the rotation of the league is, whether it’s four or six years where we can be the home team.
“But we make the league office aware every year that we would be delighted to play as a home team or as an away team. And we hope at some point we’ll get picked back up in that.”
The Chiefs have played in two International Series games, both as the home team. In 2015 they defeated the Detroit Lions in London, and in 2023 they beat the Miami Dolphins in Frankfurt, Germany.
The NFL will play regular-season games in England, Spain, Germany, Ireland and Brazil in 2025, and a game in Australia is scheduled for 2026. The league also has interest in playing in the Middle East at some point.
The Cleveland Browns, New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars will be the home teams for games in London. The Miami Dolphins will play in Madrid, Indianapolis Colts in Berlin, Pittsburgh Steelers in Dublin and Los Angeles Chargers in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The opponents for those home teams haven’t been announced.
Hunt sees more games moving abroad in seasons to come.
“You’ve seen this growth,” Hunt said. “I think we’re up to seven games this year. The league has a short-term goal of getting to eight and maybe down the road as many as 16 games.”
Sam McDowell contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 31, 2025 at 2:50 PM.