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The Dallas Cowboys’ game Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens in Rio de Janeiro’s Maracaña Stadium is the second of a record nine international NFL games this season. It’s also just the second regular season international game in Cowboys’ history.
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With the NFL emphasizing more international games, and commissioner Roger Goodell not ruling out a franchise playing regularly or the league hosting a Super Bowl in Europe, it begs the question: Why have the Cowboys, the most valued franchise in professional sports, not played more games abroad?
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NFL international schedule
The NFL is scheduled to play a record nine international games this season:
Sept. 10: 49ers vs. Rams, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia
Sept. 27: Ravens vs. Cowboys, Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Oct. 4: Colts vs. Commanders, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London
Oct. 11: Eagles vs. Jaguars, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London
Oct. 18: Texans vs. Jaguars, Wembley Stadium, London
Oct. 25: Steelers vs. Saints, Stade de France, Paris
Nov. 8: Bengals vs. Falcons, Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid, Spain
Nov. 15: Patriots vs. Lions, FC Bayern Munich Arena, Munich, Germany
Nov. 22: Vikings vs. 49ers, Estadio Banorte, Mexico City, Mexico
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“It wasn’t that long ago, I guess only four or so years ago, where the membership voted for every team to give up a home game really once every four years and that cycle has now come around to the Cowboys,” NFL executive vice president Peter O’Reilly said. “The reason that the Cowboys have not been an opponent for games is also a pretty clear one. I mean, the Cowboys are a huge draw, hugely popular team.”
NFL teams didn’t want to give up a home game with the Cowboys as the visiting team because of the potential lost revenue.
The Cowboys finished in the top 10 in NFL road attendance three times in the last five years. As recently as 2021, the Cowboys drew the fourth-most road attendance (Road attendance fluctuates based on the size of the stadiums).
For years, NFL franchises could protect two guaranteed home games from being relocated to an international site.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said several teams elected to keep the Cowboys on their home schedules. Jones, himself, didn’t want to lose home dates for an international game regardless of the opponent.
The Cowboys have led the NFL in home attendance since the pandemic in 2020.
NFL owners this year ruled franchises can no longer protect two home games from being selected for relocation internationally.
“You really want to focus on putting the best schedule together,” O’Reilly said. “So that’s been a factor, frankly, why the Cowboys haven’t played an opponent around the world because of their stature as an opponent in the U.S. We’re thrilled, Rio’s thrilled, lots of buzz around this game and then I would expect the Cowboys will be on the international docket in the not-so-distant future again.”
Jones isn’t opposed to playing internationally. The Cowboys’ first regular season international game under Jones’ ownership was in 2014. The Cowboys defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 31-17 in London.
But the Cowboys haven’t played outside of the country since.
Down in Mexico
NFL business has surged internationally, with the league allowing teams to establish marketing areas in different parts of the world.
In 2021, the Cowboys were awarded a license to expand their international market into Mexico.
NFL games will take place in Estadio Banorte in Mexico City for the next three seasons as part of a multiyear agreement.
Jones has said a large portion of their fan base comes from Monterrey. The franchise has played four preseason games in Mexico, three in Mexico City and one in Monterrey.
In 1994, the Cowboys drew 112,376 fans to Azteca Stadium for a preseason game, one of the largest crowds in that location.
“I also have plans in the future to make trips to Mexico,” Jones said. “We have the (NFL) market deal and we’ll always have the marketing deal with Mexico. It fits so well, that’s why we played when we could down there.”
The Cowboys’ brand was big before Jones purchased the team in 1989.
The first NFL game outside of North America was a preseason game between the Cowboys and the then-defending Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears in 1986. It was dubbed the American Bowl and played in London’s Wembley Stadium.
Cowboys defensive end Ed “Too Tall” Jones posed with Chicago Bears defensive tackle Williams “The Refrigerator” Perry for a Sports Illustrated cover alongside a member of the Queen’s Guard.
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There’s a picture of Jones and the late Hall of Fame coach Tom Landry wearing a British policeman’s bobby helmet.
“Coach Landry was one of my mentors and favorite people I’ve ever met,” then-Bears coach Mike Ditka said in a 2019 ESPN story about the game. “I owe him everything. He enjoyed himself out there.”
Not all roses
Not all is positive with the international game.
NFL players have complained about the playing surfaces. In 2018, the NFL moved a game between the Chiefs and Rams from Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca to Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum because of poor field conditions.
The field conditions for Sunday’s game were called into question, but NFL officials expressed confidence that the field will be suitable to play by kickoff.
The travel, sometimes as much at 10-plus hours, can wear on players and coaches and has forced teams to alter practice schedules.
Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay received criticism for having his team arrive in Melbourne, Australia, a day before the regular season opener against the San Francisco 49ers. The Rams lost the game, with his team looking sluggish throughout.
After the Rams looked fresh while defeating the New York Giants on Monday Night Football, McVay joked: “Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn, and sometimes you have a dumbass coach that makes travel decisions that put you in a bad spot. So, there you go.”
The Cowboys plan to arrive for their game in Rio on Friday morning, nearly 48 hours before kickoff after a nearly 12-hour flight from Texas. They will practice Friday afternoon and hold a walkthrough at the stadium Saturday morning in preparation for Sunday’s game.
Logistics nightmare
The health and safety of players is always at the forefront. The NFLPA, while wanting the league to make money because of the shared revenue with ownership, is lukewarm on the long travel for international games.
Traveling long hours to a city, then preparing for a game in 48 hours can be taxing on a club. In preparation for a game, NFL teams have lighter practices before leaving.
“There’s a big membership, and there’s people who like it. I would say the majority of players really see a lot of difficulties with international travel,” said Jalen Reeves-Maybin, the NFLPA president. “And, you know, we haven’t really been as far as we could go and as far as the league wants to go with travel. So I think we’re really entering a whole new territory. And I think that is something that poses a problem for our players, and it’s something that, you know, we’ll continue to fight for and ensure that we’re doing the best to safeguard our players.”
The Cowboys have been preparing for the trip for months.
“Yeah, the logistics is a ton,” coach Brian Schottenheimer said before the Cowboys Week 2 game against the Commanders. “The league’s been very, very helpful. Our operations team has been really working on it from March. We sent a team in late March to head down there and look around the facility.
“I feel really good about the plan and the week’s going to hit quick. So we play Washington (last Sunday) and then it’s going to hit quick because we’re going to treat it a little bit like a short week because we need to get down there. We’ll fly Thursday night, but we got cargo ships going [with equipment], we got all kinds of stuff going. So it’s a very, very, very intense process.”
NFL international games are not going anywhere. In May, the NFL passed a resolution allowing at least 10 international games per year beyond the 2026 season. Goodell said the goal is to have an international game every week of the regular season.
The Rams-49ers game to open the season was the NFL’s first in Australia. There are three more contests scheduled in London, and one each in Paris, Madrid, Munich and Mexico City.
On Sunday the Cowboys and Ravens will play the first NFL game in Rio de Janeiro, the third in Brazil. The NFL announced expansion to Rio beginning with three regular season games over five years starting this year.
The Cowboys and Ravens are first up.
“It’s exciting,” said Jones, who owns car dealerships in Brazil. “We got a lot of fans and it makes it good and I’m excited about going.”
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This story was originally published September 25, 2026 at 2:41 AM.