Roger Goodell: NFL Using Jaguars’ London Slate To ‘Understand the Impact’ Of International Series

How will the NFL evaluate the Jaguars' back-to-back London series against the Falcons and Bills?

The Jacksonville Jaguars will be at the center of the NFL's international experiment during the 2023 season, becoming the first team to ever play back-to-back games internationally.

The NFL officially announced five international games earlier this month, with two of those games placing the Jaguars in London: a Week 4 "home" game vs. the Atlanta Falcons, and then a Week 5 "road" game vs. the Buffalo Bills, where the Bills will be the designated home team. 

And according to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's comments at this week's league meetings, it appears the Jaguars' progress during their two-week stay will be the focus for the NFL as they study its impact on future games.

 “We like to take things in increments,” Goodell said. “I think one of the things we always focus on pretty much with everything we do, but I’ll put it specifically to the international games, is to learn from our experience every year. To try something a little different and understand the impact of that.

“This is the first time we’re going to have a team stay a week and play consecutive games. I think we’ll learn from that and that’s the intent of it, ultimately. To see what’s the impact to the Jaguars, in this case. We’ll evaluate that after we’re done. At some point, would we try three? Possibly. But I think the focus is to try to do two and see what the impact is first, and then we’ll go from there.”

The Jaguars have played in London in nine of the last 10 seasons, with 2020 being the lone season the Jaguars didn't participate in an international game (a result of the COVID-19 pandemic). The Jaguars are 4-5 in London after losing last year's contest to the Denver Broncos in a 21-17 fashion, setting up their impressive second-half run.