Giant flags of the United States and Brazil are displayed on the field ahead of the NFL game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by NELSON ALMEIDA / AFP via Getty Images)
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The Kansas City Chiefs have sought to globalize their brand, going so far as to call themselves the “world’s team” while seeking international contests.
“We’ve been one of the most aggressive international teams in the league,” Chiefs president Mark Donovan said. “And we’d love to play again.”
Patrick Mahomes is entering his 10th year in the NFL, and during that tenure, the Chiefs have played internationally three times on three different continents.
But this year they only will play domestically.
Their last remaining chance was the Week Nine game on Sunday, Nov. 8 in Madrid, Spain as the road team to the host Atlanta Falcons, but on Tuesday afternoon, the NFL announced that the Cincinnati Bengals will play the Falcons instead.
During the weekend of the 2026 NFL Draft, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said the odds were slightly less than 50% that the Chiefs would play in Spain.
“There’s still a possibility that we would play in Spain, and at this point, I do think the opportunities are limited to Spain,” Hunt said. “We know that Atlanta will be the host team there and we’re one of four or five teams that are on their schedule that could possibly be in that game.”
Because NFL schedules are 17 games, there are an uneven number of home and road games, and that flips each season. This is the year the Chiefs have an extra road game (nine) to go with their (eight) home games.
Reducing the number of regular-season games at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium to seven in 2026 would sacrifice the revenue from the more than 75,000 fans who fill Arrowhead and also present a competitive disadvantage.
Heading into NFL schedule release week, the Falcons in Spain were the only road team on the Chiefs’ schedule left who had an open opponent for an international game.
That location would have been particularly appealing because it is one of the countries — along with Austria, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Switzerland and the United Kingdom — in which the Chiefs have global marketing rights.
Those rights allow them to build brand awareness through fan engagement, events, commercial opportunities and NFL flag football development, and the Chiefs have taken full advantage.
“When you have the face of the league in Patrick,” Hunt said, “it certainly facilitates growing your brand.”
But instead of playing the Falcons in Spain, Mahomes and the Chiefs will face them in Atlanta, where they narrowly won 22-17 two years ago.
The Chiefs opened last year in Sao Paolo, Brazil, where they lost 27-21 to the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chiefs also faced the Chargers internationally in November of 2019, winning 24-17 in Mexico City during a season which ended in their first Super Bowl victory in 50 years.
Kansas City’s last Super Bowl-winning season also included an international game.
The Chiefs defeated the Miami Dolphins and former Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill, 21-14, in November of 2023 in Frankfurt, Germany and then won Super Bowl LVIII a few months later.
So perhaps playing in Europe has served as a good omen — in addition to the way it allows the Chiefs to expand their fanbase.
“We’d love to be overseas again,” Donovan said.