NFL schedule by miles traveled: 49ers, Texans face most difficult road distances originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
In 2026, the NFL is setting a record, with nine international games set to be played. This introduces American football to a broader audience, but also comes with a drawback. Miles.
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This season also sets a record for most miles traveled by a single team in a season, thanks to the variety of international locations. The most notable is Melbourne, Australia, which requires two California teams to travel 17 hours into the future due to the time zone difference.
For one team, they’ll travel over 38,000 miles, beating last year’s record from the Chargers by over 1,000 miles.
Here are the numbers on which teams will travel the most in 2026.
MORE: List of every NFL international game in 2026, from Melbourne to Mexico
What NFL team will travel the most miles in 2026?
The San Francisco 49ers lead the way this year in miles traveled, with over 3,000 miles more than the second-place Los Angeles Rams. These two will meet during Week 1, and the location explains why they stand atop this list.
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The 49ers and Rams will play at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia, during Week 1. This marks the first NFL game ever played on a cricket ground
A round-trip plane ticket from San Francisco to Melbourne alone would place the 49ers above about 10 other teams in air mileage. The two cities’ airports are separated by over 7,800 miles.
But that’s not all for the 49ers, as they also have an international game in Mexico City during Week 11. They’ll duke it out with the Vikings in that contest.
MORE: Which NFL teams have the easiest, hardest strengths of schedule in 2026?
NFL schedule by miles traveled
Plane rides may be extra long for the 49ers and Rams, but there are also teams with some very light travel times this season. Only two teams, the Panthers and Browns, were able to remain under 10,000 miles traveled in 2026. On average, this season, teams travel 19,652 miles.
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Here is the full list of every team, ranked by their miles traveled in the upcoming season.
Rank
Team
Miles
1
49ers
38,105
2
Rams
34,847
3
28,470
4
Cowboys
27,980
5
Patriots
27,590
6
Dolphins
27,568
7
Chargers
24,816
8
Jaguars
23,392
9
Eagles
22,115
10
22,056
11
Saints
21,892
12
Raiders
21,099
13
Bills
19,734
14
Broncos
19.129
15
Lions
18.958
16
Commanders
18,491
17
18,401
18
Titans
18,157
19
Giants
18,109
20
Falcons
17,431
21
17,422
22
15.868
23
Cardinals
15.646
24
15,177
25
Vikings
14,852
26
14,183
27
14,038
28
12,673
29
Buccaneers
12,185
30
Bears
10,676
31
Browns
9,073
32
Panthers
8,740
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