The NFL is continuing to explore options of growing its game internationally.
The league, which is the most popular in the United States in terms of per game viewership, is looking at playing regular season games in Spain and Brazil, according to NFL executive vice president Peter O'Reilly told ESPN.
O'Reilly said that the NFL had already sent officials to Madrid, Rio de Janiero and Sao Paulo to see whether the games could be played as early as next season. But he said it's not clear yet whether the games will be played by next year.
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The potential stadiums that could be used for the games in Spain would be Real Madrid's Estadio Santiago Bernabeu or Atletico Madrid's Estadio Metropolitano. There was no report on the potential stadiums in Brazil.
The league has put an emphasis on expanding international growth. It launched its International Series in 2007 to play games abroad, and has already expanded to five regular season games played outside of the United States this season. That includes the back-to-back weeks that the Jacksonville Jaguars will play in London on Oct. 1 and Oct. 8.
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And playing games isn't the only way the NFL has tried to expand its international audience. Just last week, it announced that for the first time in history, it will be expanding the rosters of all 32 teams by adding an additional slot specific to an international player.
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