Last week, the NFL announced three of the teams participating in next year’s London games. The Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, and New York Jets were named as host teams for those games next season, which is important to note for the LA Chargers.
The Chargers are currently scheduled to play the Jaguars on the road in 2025. That game could very well be under consideration to be moved overseas.
However, the international game potential doesn’t end there for the Chargers. Friday, the Miami Dolphins were announced as the hosts of a game in Madrid, Spain.
Much like the Jaguars, the Chargers also face the Dolphins in 2025 as a road opponent. There could be the potential to see Justin Herbert and Tua Tagovailoa face off at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Odds increase of Chargers playing a game in Europe in 2025
In addition to the Chargers potentially being one of the road opponents for those two teams overseas, they still could also host an international game themselves.
The league can schedule up to three more overseas games for a total of eight next season. So far, all five teams that have been announced have been from the AFC.
The NFL has alternated which teams get the nine games at home since the implementation of the 17-game schedule in the 2021 season. The Chargers and the rest of the AFC have nine home games this year as a result.
The last time the Chargers played overseas was in the 2019 season when they played the Chiefs in Mexico City. Just before that, they played and won against the Titans at Wembley Stadium in 2018.
With the league expanding its overseas reach, the Chargers seemingly have a much higher likelihood of heading to Europe in 2025 given the recent announcement of host teams.
Assuming they do have an international game next season, one would hope that the league is strategic about where to place the teams’ BYE week when the schedule is released in May to make up for that.