Officially no international game for the Detroit Lions in 2024
As expected, the Detroit Lions will wait at least one more season to play an international game.
The time for the Detroit Lions to play an international match is long overdue, as team president Rod Wood has stated. They haven’t done so since 2015.
The Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings, two of the home clubs for the international games in 2024, were revealed by the league in March when the Lions were on the road.
Still, if felt unlikely the league would schedule a divisional game for overseas, so the Lions weren’t really expected to get an international game again this season.
On Wednesday morning, ahead of the full schedule release on Wednesday night, the NFL announced the full slate of international games for the 2024 season. Week 1 in Brazil was previousluy announced.
Week 1: Green Bay Packers at Philadelphia Eagles; Sao Paulo, Brazil
Week 5: New YorkJets at Minnesota Vikings; London, England
Week 6: Jacksonville Jaguars at Chicago Bears; London, England
Week 7: New England Patriots at Jacksonville Jaguars; London, England
Week 10: New YorkGiants at Carolina Panthers; Munich, Germany
Detroit Lions will now wait until 2025 to play an international game
Of note is that all three of the Lions’ division rivals will play an international game this season. It isn’t likely to to be impactful in terms of short rest, with the Packers to have an extra day or two before Week 2 and the Bears and Vikings likely to have their bye weeks after playing in London.
But the travel and time change in the middle of a season can be a thing. The Bears and Vikings will also lose a traditional home game to their international game.
It now seems inevitable that the Lions will play an international match in 2025. It appears that they will play in Germany because they were granted marketing rights for four nations earlier in the offseason, including that country.