In the next 2 decades many events will occur, like a return to the moon by man ( well, if the U.S. actually landed in 69 ), 2010, 2012 and 2014 Olympics and by the 2010s many young athletes starting out now will be living legends.

20 years is a long time, deffinetly technology will be much more advanced, less we all kill ourselves I do believe the NFL and all other major sports leagues will finally be worldwide entertainment, actual worldwide entertainment, instead of cities, there will be nations cheering on teams....outside of the U.S.

So, how will the NFL expand? Will there be the same number of teams but 8 will be outside of the U.S.? Will there be 2 new divisions? Or will half the NFL no matter the number of teams now be worldwide, anyone forsee a North America conference vs World conference?? Hmmmm???

Give your answer as to how you believe it will unfold, maybe you think it will stay the same.

the only way sports go worldwide is if transportation becomes easier.

Supersonic transportation failed. A flight to Europe is ok from the east coast, but there are significant parts of the world that would not be easily reached in less than 1 whole day of travel. thats too much and a logistical problem

significant parts of the world do not have the resources to support billion dollars sports enterprises. Africa doesnt have the infrastructure. A dollar a day chinaman isn't paying to watch football.

Then the cultural issues- would a nation or region of a narrow race or cultural group support or identify with a team made up of free agents or athletes from a broader talent pool.

The only way it could work is to have continental divisions with their play leading up to a broad tournament type playoff structure. Regardless of what happens I don't think you can get many more than 20% of the worlds population to watch a championship game. The NFL already has that so why invest in more leagues. NFL Europa failed.

1st i gotta say GREAT question. I gotta star it.

36-40 teams. The Jaguars will fold. Toronto will have a franchise. There will be and Eastern and Western Conference. Mike Hart and Darren McFadden will be retired and thought of as Walter Payton and Barry Sanders.

i could see that since we have the europian football league but its not that big because they have "football" which is really stupid soccer that sport is boring and they have rugby which is boring too makes me sleepy

I really don't think that the NFL will expand that much in the years to come... The NFL has been around for some time now and it hasn't really spread to other countries that much... I think that the first kind of international expansion would be joinin the NFL with the CFL, but I still don't think that that is very likely because of how different the rules and styles are... So I think that it will stay pretty similar...