NEW YORK – (Wire Service Report) – Plans to expand the NFL International Series to China in 2018 are on hold for at least one more season.
“It may make better sense to look at that game as an opportunity to celebrate our hundred years, in the event we can pull it off and as a way to look forward to the future,” NFL executive vice president of international Mark Waller said to sports industry trade mag Sports Business Journal.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (L) and Patriots Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft talk to the media about the 2007 China Bowl at a press conference on September 24, 2006 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. The game between the Seattle Seahawks and the England Patriots will take place on August 8, 2007 in Beijing, China. (Elsa/Getty Images)
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With speculation surrounding a future NFL franchise in London and discussion as recently as 2016 about playing the postseason Pro Bowl on foreign soil — the league admitted discussions with officials in Sydney, Australia — expanding the International Series remains a goal.
Another regular-season game will be played in Mexico City this season, after the Houston Texans and Oakland Raiders played before a record crowd in November 2016. The NFL celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2019, when the game in China could become part of the global goals of the league.
Two games — in 2007 and 2009 — scheduled to be played in China were scrapped by the NFL
