𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft spoke confidently in an interview Tuesday about the NFL expanding to an 18-game schedule and having each team play one international game per season.

“I want to tell you guys, we’re going to push like the Dickens now to make international more important with us,” Kraft said during an interview on the Zolak & Bertrand show. “Every team will go to 18 (regular-season games) and two (preseason games) and eliminate one of the preseason games. Every team, every year, will play one game overseas.”

The NFL is looking to remove a preseason game in favor of increasing the regular season to 18 games while giving every team an international game, #Patriots owner Robert Kraft said on @ZoandBertrand. pic.twitter.com/DKeFs8ZsIi

— 98.5 The Sports Hub (@985TheSportsHub) January 20, 2026

Kraft is not alone in his call for a longer regular season. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell hasn’t shied away from the 18-game premise, and the revised schedule is expected to be a major discussion point during negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement.

The NFL Players Association agreed to add a 17th regular-season game as part of their 2020 CBA, and NFL owners approved that expansion to begin in the 2021 season. The current agreement runs through 2030, but negotiations could begin much earlier — even as soon as this year’s offseason meetings.

“Part of the reason is so we can continue to grow the cap and keep our labor happy, because we’re sort of getting near the top here,” Kraft said from Gillette Stadium. “… 93 of the top 100 programs on television are NFL games, think about that. It’s really amazing. And you look at the size of our crowds versus the other sports.

“As long as we can keep growing revenue, we can keep long-term labor peace.”

The NFL’s international presence has been steadily increasing. The league played a record seven games on foreign turf in 2025 and is eyeing a potential nine games overseas in 2026. Last October, while speaking at a fan event in London ahead of a Jaguars-Bears matchup at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Goodell said he could see the NFL playing 16 games in international markets if the league moves to an 18-game regular season.

“Our goal is to be a global sport,” Goodell said at the time. “We want to have our game played on a global basis, and we want to bring our game to a global audience. So we’re looking at markets that we’d like to be in, that maybe we haven’t gotten a fan development.”