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The NFL announced Monday general manager Andrew Berry and the Cleveland Browns will have rights in Italy through the NFL’s global markets program.
The Cleveland Browns have yet to find out if they will play in another international game during the 2026 NFL season. But on Tuesday, the league announced a significant update involving the Browns with its Global Markets Program.
NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported the NFL’s Peter O’Reilly announced at the league’s annual meeting Monday the Browns are one of two teams who will have rights in Italy.
“A possible precursor to a game in Italy, where former NFL OL Justin Pugh was recently announced as commissioner of the Italian Football League,” wrote Garafolo on X.
O’Reilly said the New Orleans Saints will be the other team with rights in Italy.
In addition to Italy, the Browns also have rights in Nigeria. Cleveland is the only club for Nigeria in the NFL Global Markets Program.
The league released a statement regarding the program’s goals on the NFL X account shortly after O’Reilly’s announcement Monday.
“The Global Markets Program (GMP) provides NFL clubs international marketing rights in countries outside of the U.S. to build brand awareness and fandom globally through fan engagement, events, commercial opportunities and NFL Flag development.
“Italy is the newest market added to the program, which now includes all 32 teams across 22 international markets.”
Cleveland Browns Gain Rights in Italy Through NFL Global Markets Program
The NFL has both its international games series and global markets program. The league has those entities linked, but they are also different.
Teams don’t have to just play in the countries where they have marketing rights. But the league does sometimes try to make that happen.
Obviously, Cleveland has yet to play in a country where the team has marketing rights. The league hasn’t held a game in Italy or Nigeria.
There haven’t been public conversations about playing a game in Nigeria. But it makes sense the league would want to hold one there eventually.
Nigeria is part of another continent that the NFL surely wants to conquer eventually. In 2026, the league will host its first regular season game in Australia.
The league expanded its “NFL Africa” program, with the Browns holding marketing right in Nigeria, two years ago. The NFL has held flag football events and offered U.S. scholarships for top athletes in an effort to grow the game in Nigeria.
“NFL Africa expansion throughout the continent follows a successful delivery of programming in Ghana in 2022 as well as Kenya and Cape Town in 2023, including talent identification camps, NFL FLAG clinics and fan events held each country,” wrote the NFL in a press release.
With the league rapidly expanding its schedule to other European countries, it makes sense to assign two teams marketing rights to Italy. That could make the Browns a strong candidate to play in Italy one day.
Could Browns Play in 2026 NFL International Series?
The Browns will not play in Australia this fall. They also won’t be one of the hosts teams in any of the other eight international games.
But, the Browns are a candidate to play in numerous other games in different countries.
Last season, the Browns played in London during Week 5. They faced the Minnesota Vikings, who played back-to-back games in Europe during 2025.
CBS Sports’s John Breech argued on March 3 the Browns could be the team that plays back-to-back European contests this fall.
“A French media outlet has reported that the Browns will face the Saints in France. This is the outlet that originally broke in January the news of the Paris game, so it’s certainly possible that the Browns could be headed to France,” Breech wrote. “If the Browns do get sent, they could conceivably play the Jaguars in London in one week and then play the Saints in Paris the following.”
The NFL will release its full schedule in May after the draft. Media pundits, though, often release the international game matchups prior to the official schedule release.
Again, the Browns won’t be playing in Italy. But they could be on the schedule for other European contests.
Dave Holcomb is a sports reporter covering the NFL and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Pittsburgh Steelers, Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions. Originally from Pittsburgh, Holcomb has covered college and professional sports for outlets including FanSided, Rotowire and Yardbarker. More about Dave Holcomb
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