NEW YORK—As the league’s popularity continues to grow outside the United States, sources confirmed Thursday that family members of many NFL players have desperately called for an increasing number of games held overseas. “The international market is huge, so it just makes sense to set up additional regular-season matchups in countries thousands and thousands of miles away,” the visibly nervous wife of one prominent NFL star said while speaking on condition of anonymity, adding that because the league stages multiple sold-out games at London’s Wembley Stadium every year, there is no reason her husband’s entire season couldn’t be based in England. “This is a great opportunity to expand the league’s influence and grow the sport among foreign fans who’ve never seen a game in person. They could even move a whole NFL franchise abroad so players would be based in another country for most of the year, and then there would be more opportunities to hold games in Europe, Africa, or Asia. Please, I’m begging you.” Reached for further comment, many NFL players’ family members frantically insisted that, should professional football continue to spread globally, games could very soon take place in such countries as North Korea, Ukraine, and Iraq.

Advertisement