Hold your passports, LA Rams. No international travel this year

The LA Rams are the defending Super Bowl Champions, and they are one of the NFL teams with a host of International Markets, including China, Australia, and Mexico. So the expectation that the LA Rams might be selected to play one of their 2022 NFL season schedule games in an international football stadium would not be off-base.

But with the release of international contests, the LA Rams are not in need of renewing their passports or purchasing new Samsonite luggage. You see, the NFL has released their 2022 International Series contests, and the LA Rams appear to be the only NFC West Division team that is not jet-setting to play a football game.

The Seattle Seahawks will travel all the way to Munich, Germany to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Talk about a time zone travel lag?  The air distance alone is 5,264 miles, and unless the flight is handled by Super Sonic Transports (SST), the air time on a direct flight is over hours of air time. That game is scheduled to be played in Week 10 and will be the first NFL game to ever be played in Munich.

Of course, the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals will also compete in an international contest, as they are scheduled to compete on Monday Night Football in Week 11 in Mexico City, Mexico.

The contests are not some randomly scheduled events, at least not in their entirety. In December 2021, the NFL announced that 18 teams have been granted access to 26 International NFL Markets. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were one of four NFL teams assigned to Germany.  The Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers are two of nine teams assigned to Mexico.

The international market assignments are (semi-)exclusive rights to conduct marketing in those areas for the next five years. During this time, teams will have the right to pursue marketing activities and sales in their international markets in line with their HMA.

As part of the international marketing initiative, the NFL is committing to obligating all 32 clubs to play at least one international game in the next eight seasons. By committing 10 teams to do so in 2022, the NFL is well on its way.

Will the LA Rams be traveling next season? That’s a tough call. But if they win a second consecutive Super Bowl? Perhaps not. After all, RHIP. Rank Has Its Privileges.