Jerry Jones Doubts Roger Goodell's Vision Of Europe-Based NFL Teams. Explains

Roger Goodell has made no secret of where he wants the NFL to go next. In recent weeks, the commissioner has said multiple times that he has "no doubt" the league will eventually plant roots outside the United States, with Europe at the top of his list. But not everyone with a seat at the table shares that confidence. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is one of them, and he said so directly on 105.3 the Fan in Dallas this week, throwing cold water on the expansion idea without fully ruling out an international future for the sport.

What did Jerry Jones say about an NFL expansion team in Europe?

Jones did not mince words when the topic came up. "I don't know about an expansion," he said. "I see the games continuing like they are. And I see the ethos, if you will, of the game, the story of the game really expanding all over the world. But fundamentally, to have an expansion team, probably is pretty far. If it's here, it's in the future." 

It is worth reading that carefully. Jones did not say an international presence is a bad idea. He said adding a brand new team to make it happen is probably a long way off. That is a meaningful distinction. Without expansion, the only path to putting teams in Europe or elsewhere is relocating existing franchises, which is its own complicated problem entirely. 

So where does that leave Goodell's vision? Probably intact, for now. Goodell currently has more power than any one owner on a matter like this, and if he genuinely sees an international team coming, that carries real weight regardless of what individual owners think. 

Why London remains the most likely landing spot, and when could it actually happen?

The NFL has been flirting with London for years. Games there have sold out consistently, and the infrastructure to support a permanent team already exists. London continues to be the most logical starting point, with one team potentially playing home games at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the other at Wembley Stadium. 

The timing question is the harder one to answer. Since the merger in 1970, the NFL has never added multiple teams at once in a dramatic burst. Two came in 1976 with the Buccaneers and Seahawks, two more arrived in 1995 with the Jaguars and Panthers, the Browns returned in 1999, and the Texans rounded out the league at 32 teams in 2002. 

That means the NFL has now gone 24 straight years without adding a single franchise. That is the longest such stretch in league history. At some point, growth has to happen. Jones is not saying never. He is saying not yet, not through expansion, and probably not soon.

There is logic to his caution. Putting a team across the Atlantic raises real questions about scheduling, travel, player contracts, and competitive balance. None of that is impossible to solve, but none of it is simple either. Goodell can dream big. Jones, as someone who runs a team and thinks in dollars and operations, is focused on the practical realities.

What is clear is that this debate is not going away. The NFL has for years dangled the possibility of a London team as part of an effort to build interest there, and more recently, the conversation feels less like it is just for show. Whether Jones ends up on the right or wrong side of history here may depend entirely on how patient Goodell is willing to be.