Joe Burrow Reacts to Bengals' International Game in Spain

The full NFL schedule release for the 2026-27 season is set to be unveiled on Thursday night, but on Wednesday the nine-game international slate was officially finalized and made public.

Three of those nine games will be played in London, while the other six will be across Australia (first time ever), Brazil, Germany, Mexico City, Spain, and also for the first time, France.

Heading to Madrid, Spain in Week 9 is set to be the Cincinnati Bengals and the Atlanta Falcons, which clearly excited Bengals star quarterback Joe Burrow.

Burrow has long been advocate to play overseas, something he hasn’t done since being drafted back in 2020.

The last time Cincinnati played overseas was in 2019 when they traveled to London to play at Wembley Stadium. Now, Burrow and several other players on the Bengals roster will get the opportunity to play in Madrid on Nov. 8.

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Burrow reacted to the opportunity for the Bengals to play in Spain and help continue growing the game internationally - something the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell have prioritized over the past decade.

"The game has a lot of room to grow. Just like basketball did in the ’80s and ’90s," Burrow said. "The Bulls kind of spearheaded that. Made it global, and hopefully the Bengals can do the same thing over the next couple of years for the NFL."

Burrow made it very clear that the Bengals vibes right now are very high after some of the offseason moves they made, but still have to go out and execute.

“Certainly, the faces look a little different, the bodies look a little different around here. The vibes are high,” Burrow said. “There’s energy emanating throughout. You can feel it. We still have to go out execute, perform, keep getting better throughout the offseason. But with the guys we have in here, we have everything we need

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor echoed a similar sentiment, highlighting the chance to expand the sport internationally.

"It's an unbelievable opportunity to grow the game internationally. That's an important part of what we do," Taylor said. "I think it's awesome the brand of the Bengals gets extended internationally. We've got a lot of great players on the team that the world will get to watch on center stage."

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This story was originally published May 13, 2026 at 1:41 PM.