Will the Bengals play internationally next season? The latest update from the NFL

Posted by author January 17, 2025 NFL

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It has been widely assumed that the Cincinnati Bengals would be giving up a home game at Paycor Stadium to play internationally in the upcoming season. However, based off the NFL’s recent announcements of the teams who will be hosting a game overseas, this doesn’t appear to be in play for the Bengals right now.

It doesn’t mean the Bengals won’t play internationally, though. They still have a chance to play as a road opponent against the Miami Dolphins in Spain and the Cleveland Browns in London or be the host team if the NFL schedules games in Brazil, Mexico City and Ireland, which is expected.

The NFL can schedule up to eight international games a year. Five of those games have been scheduled so far leaving room for three more.

The Dolphins were named a home team for the NFL’s first game in Madrid at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, home to the soccer club Real Madrid C.F. Cincinnati is scheduled to play Miami on the road next season. Cleveland is scheduled to host a game in London at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. If the Bengals don’t get selected to be a host team in Brazil, Mexico City or Ireland, they won’t find out if they’ll play overseas until May when the NFL schedule is announced.

There’s no public timeline for when the next three games will be announced. For the Bengals, it’s a wait and see situation.

“We expect to return to Mexico City,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in November. “We expect to return to Brazil. We will certainly be back in the U.K. And we’re also looking at the potential of another game in the U.K. area in Ireland, possibly. That’s a possibility. And we’ll certainly be back here in Germany. So, if that total’s eight, that’s what we’re shooting for.”

Each NFL team is guaranteed to play a home game at an international site every eight seasons. The Bengals last played overseas in 2019 when they were a road opponent against the Los Angeles Rams in London.

This means if they Bengals don’t host a game internationally in 2025, they will in 2027. When the NFL added a 17th game, the protocol for how international games were scheduled changed. The host teams for international games are selected based off which conference has the extra home game. Cincinnati has nine homes games in the 2025 season. In 2026, NFC teams will get nine home games leaving the next opportunity for the Bengals to be a host team internationally in 2027.

The Bengals won’t be playing in Germany in 2025 as the league selected the Indianapolis Colts to be the host team for a game in Berlin. Indianapolis isn’t one of Cincinnati’s opponents next season.