Coach Jon Gruden screams at fan in must-see pro-America rant over NFL’s international schedule

Former NFL coach Jon Gruden is not happy about how many international games the NFL is playing, and he isn’t afraid to let everyone know.

Gruden was seemingly calm and collected recently, holding it together without bursting into one of his trademark tirades. That was until a fan started pushing him to accept the overseas games.

‘I never saw Ray Nitschke play in London!’

The Super Bowl winner went off during “The Gruden Family Football Show” on Thursday when a fan brought up the NFL’s international schedule, which this season has teams traveling to London; Paris; Madrid; Mexico City; Melbourne, Australia; Munich, Germany; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“I want a piece of you, Gruden,” the fan began, immediately piquing the coach’s interest.

“I listen to you bitch and moan about international games. Oh, how it ‘disrupts routine.’ Gruden, the game was built on sacrifice,” the comments continued.

The fan dragged Gruden, telling him how he has benefited from the sacrifices of former players and coaches who traveled across the United States to play grueling games on minimal rest.

“You need to embrace growing the sport globally. You understand that?” the fan added.

Gruden wasn’t having any of the fan’s globalist approach, though.

“Get him off!” Gruden yelled, cutting the remarks short. “I understand that completely. I mean, we’re not going overseas to play home games.”

Unable to restrain himself any longer, Gruden started screaming that while some of the NFL’s most historic players traveled a lot, they didn’t play in different countries.

“I didn’t see Red Grange playing in Australia. And I never saw Ray Nitschke play in London! OK?! So take that and stick that in your pipe,” Gruden exclaimed.

“If you want to grow the game, grow it in the United States. We got a lot of kids that aren’t playing football. So let’s play games where we need to grow the game in our country. And let’s start and end with that,” he screamed comically.

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Further endorsing an America-only schedule, the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach said it wasn’t fair to have players traveling for 12+ hours before a game.

“I don’t want to be on a 16-hour flight, seven different time zones to play one of my home games. Sorry,” he told his co-hosts.

2026 will feature the most international regular-season games the NFL has ever seen, with nine total.

2025 had already seen an increase to seven after the league had previously maxed out at five, the number played the previous three years, as well as in 2017 and 2019.

While Australia, Brazil, and France will see their first official NFL games this season, countries like the U.K., Mexico, and Canada have all hosted multiple games dating back more than a decade.

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Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

The NFL used to promote itself internationally through the league NFL Europe, which consisted of American football teams based in European countries like the U.K. and Germany. The league existed in different forms from 1991 until 2007.

However, the first international regular-season game for NFL teams was in Mexico City in 2005, when the Arizona Cardinals hosted the San Francisco 49ers.

The league’s pursuit of global growth has seemingly been lucrative, though, as the NFL boasted $450 million in international revenue in 2023.