Zac Taylor speaks about Cincinnati Bengals 2025 NFL draft picks video
Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor speaks at a press conference after Bengals make all their picks for the 2025 NFL Draft.
The NFL announced it will release the full international schedule on Tuesday, May 13 on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football.” Cincinnati will get its full schedule a day later on Wednesday, May 14.
This announcement impacts the Bengals because there were reports they would be playing the Miami Dolphins in Madrid, Spain in November. To this point, the team has yet to be told if they are going to be traveling overseas.
“We asked (the NFL) when we saw those reports and they wouldn’t tell us anything,” Bengals’ executive vice president Katie Blackburn said at the NFL’s annual league meetings. “In 2025 or 2027, you could go as the home team, but the visiting team still has the opportunity to go, and it seems like the only one that would match up would be the Madrid game because of the opponent. We don’t know. We’ll find out when they announce it.”
Rumors began to swirl early this year when the mayor of Madrid, Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida Navasques, reportedly said the Miami Dolphins will host the Bengals in a game at the iconic Bernabeu Stadium.
The NFL announced the Dolphins were chosen as the home team in Madrid. Cincinnati is one of Miami’s nine scheduled home opponents. So, it very well could be the Bengals picked to play the Dolphins in Madrid instead of Miami.
Spain isn’t the only possibility of an international game for the Bengals. While it seems unlikely the league would place an important division game overseas, the Pittsburgh Steelers are the host team for the NFL’s first game in Ireland this year. The Bengals will play the Steelers in a home and away series as they always do, leaving the door open for a potential AFC North showdown in Dublin.
Typically, the NFL has stayed away from taking a division home game away from teams, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.
If the Bengals don’t play in Ireland or Spain as a road team this year, they will be heading overseas soon. Cincinnati is expected to be a host team for an international game in 2027, according to Blackburn.
“We still should be a home team (internationally) in 2027,” Blackburn said. The NFL is scheduled to play seven international games in the upcoming season.