NFL owners voted to expand the international slate from four to eight games starting in 2025 during Wednesday’s league meeting. It passed by a vote of 31-1. And guess who had the lone dissenting vote: Chicago Bears chairman George McCaskey.
According to CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones, McCaskey’s reasoning didn’t have anything to do with leaving the country, rather the lack of control when it comes to protecting certain home games.
In the past, the NFL has allowed teams to protect four home games from being international. But with Wednesday’s vote, it was cut from four to just two games, which means some of those high-profile matchups could be selected to go international.
Per Jones, McCaskey spoke up during the meeting and told others that home fans want to see some of the league’s best quarterbacks and wanted to ensure those games were at Soldier Field. But McCaskey did draw laughs as he went through some of those names.
Here’s how it went down:
“We have generational talents coming in,” McCaskey said, according to a source in the room. “Fans want to see Patrick Mahomes coming in. They want to see Josh Allen coming in. They want to see Jalen Hurts coming in. They want to see Tommy DeVito coming in.”
The room burst into laughter.
“It was the best line of the entire meeting,” one source in the meeting said, adding it was a good-natured and well-received quip.
For what it’s worth, the Bears are set to host the Cowboys, Giants, Browns and Steelers (in addition to their NFC North rivals) in 2025. At this point, Dallas’ Dak Prescott feels like the only high-profile quarterback all but guaranteed to grace Soldier Field.
Next season, the NFL will have a game in Brazil, which will be hosted by an NFC team. London will host three games while Germany also gets a game for a third straight year.
In 2025, that number will increase to eight, including potentially in Spain, which happens to be an international market assigned to the Bears.