"Nobody wants this" - NFL fans call out league executives for planning to organize a game in UAE

The NFL world was taken aback when the league announced the expansion of its Global Markets Program by adding four new clubs and two new markets for 2025.

The program was launched in 2022 to allow NFL clubs to use their international marketing rights to continue building a fanbase outside the U.S. too, via exciting fan interaction, advertisements, events and more.

Teams like the Baltimore Ravens, the Green Bay Packers and the Los Angeles Chargers gained international marketing rights in the United Kingdom, Germany and Greece.

New teams, namely the Washington Commanders, the LA Rams and the San Fransisco 49ers have gained marketing rights to Greece and the UAE.

As the 49ers, Commanders and Rams have UAE as their new market, NFL EVP Peter O’Reilly teased a potential game in Abu Dhabi.

The idea of an American game being played in the UAE wasn't very well received by the fans, as reacting to it, one wrote, "Literally nobody wants this."

"What the f**k is Roger Goodell thinking here? It’s such a brain-dead move to have an American game in the United Arab Emirates," another fan expressed frustration.

"The United States absolutely needs to not have anything going on over there right now especially in this world's climate," another fan shared their thoughts.

"Wherever there is a multi billion dollar oil tycoon, sport conglomerates will follow; UFC, WWE, NFL. I get it, they want a piece of the billionaire pie, but think about the product you're sending over there before you agree to it," another fan added.

"Slowly but surely the NFL is losing me and quite a few of my friends as fans," another fan reacted to the news.

"Yeah, I'll sleep through that game. No way in hell with that long of either team will play well," another fan boldly predicted.

NFL EVP Peter O’Reilly weighs in on the potential game in the UAE

Talking about potentially organizing a match in Abu Dhabi, Peter said, as per Pro Football Talk on NBC:

“We don’t know the timing, and it’s really an ‘if’ in terms of whether we’ll play a game there, but I will say is that’s a market where there’s strong interest in our game, strong interest in growing our game on a year-round basis. I think that’s why you see three clubs raising their hands with interest there. It’s a market we’ll continue to explore."

O'Riley further shared that the league has done some exploratory trips to understand the viability of the opportunity for a regular season game. He also mentioned that they have a lot more work to do while planning what the execution looks like.

In 2024, the league had 24 clubs playing in 19 markets. In 2025, there will be 29 clubs across 21 international markets.