NFL's Roger Goodell is playing the international long game ahead of league's Australia debut

MELBOURNE, Australia — The NFL is making history this week with its first-ever regular-season game in Australia, but Commissioner Roger Goodell is already thinking well into the future.

"Whether it's media, or whether it's labor, or whether it's our international plans or what we're doing with stadiums, all of that [requires] taking a 5-, 10-, 15-year look, and it's critical to do that," Goodell said in an exclusive interview with CNBC here ahead of the Week 1 game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams, set to kick off Thursday night at 8:35 pm ET.

Earlier this month, Goodell, 67, signed a four-year contract extension that will keep him as the league's commissioner until March 2031. This year marks Goodell's 20th season on the job.

He has overseen significant growth and change for the most popular U.S. sports league, including the addition of a 17th regular season game and its sale of media rights to streaming platforms. But no change may factor more into his long-term plans than adding recent regular-season games in a range of countries from Germany and France to Brazil and Mexico.

NFL games are routinely the most-watched programming in the U.S., but international interest is still sparse. Last year's Week 1 international game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers — streamed on YouTube — was watched by 18.5 million viewers in the U.S. and just 1.2 million abroad.

Goodell's global growth plans include playing nine games outside of the U.S. in 2026 and 10 international contests in 2027. He's previously said he'd like to get that number to 16, but he'll need player buy-in to do so.

The league's current collective bargaining agreement caps the number of international games at 10. The CBA expires in March 2031 — aligning with Goodell's contract.

International travel can be disruptive to players who rely on routines to maximize their health and limit injuries over the course of a 17-game regular season. Still, Goodell said he believes players enjoy the global games.

"I think they see the opportunity. I get calls, texts from our players during the offseason, and they're all over the world, so I think this generation of players is used to being international," said Goodell. "I think they're used to looking at opportunities to continue to grow their brands, and I think it's great for the NFL."

The league's international strategy is predicated on holistic growth that goes beyond playing a once-a-year game in a certain city, said Goodell. It's unclear how much flying into an international city for a week to play a game moves the needle for sustained fandom.

The league is relying on its Global Markets Program to build interest around the world. Each team owns the marketing rights to at least one international market. The NFL is still tweaking the program to maximize ways to build fan bases in countries without natural alliances to teams, Goodell said.

"You don't want to be at the circus to come in and play a game and leave," he said. "You want to have events and sponsors and media partners. I think we'll continue to modify [the Global Markets Program], but I think it's worked well."