As had long been rumored, the NFL announced today that it will schedule a regular season game in São Paulo, Brazil, next season. The date and teams are still to be determined.
The game, which will be played at Corinthians Arena — home of the soccer team Corinthians — will be the league’s first game in South America, and also its first in the Southern Hemisphere.
The move is part of the NFL’s effort to expand its international operations, with additional games likely to be scheduled in Madrid and/or Rio de Janeiro by 2025 or ’26. A resolution passed today will raise the league’s number of international games each season from four to eight by 2025, and teams will henceforth be required to play at least one overseas game every four years.
When the NFL began playing games in London in 2007, participating teams wore an “International Series” patch. More recently, though, the overseas games have not featured any commemorative patch or decal, with teams just wearing their standard uniforms.
(My thanks to @johnniewha for providing the NFL São Paulo logo.)
I’m all for the international reach. I would love to see the NFL in an African country. Nigeria, Liberia, Kenya, etc.
Sure seems like they’ve been playing more than 4 Int’l games a year already. I think they do 4 in London alone
Pretty sure they did 5 international games this season: 3 in London (one in Wembly, two at Tottenham) and 2 in Frankfurt.
I *thought* they also did one in Mexico, but I need to check that…
OK. No games in Mexico this year as the stadium is undergoing renovations…
it may be because they arent counting one or both both the jaguars games because them playing in london every year is a thing they organize themselves
I’m not a fan of neutral site games. A mixed crowd just doesn’t have the same excitement that a home crowd does.
That being said, I do love the 9:30 start time. This Brazil game presumably won’t have it though as it’s only a 2 hour time difference from the east coast.
Starting the game 90 minutes early, wouldn’t be the worst thing. An 11:30 local time start can work very well.
Sao Paolo avg high temp by month:
September 78°, October 79°, November 80°, December 83°
Highs in the low 90s the next 5 days.
Hope it’s a night game.
Muito bom
So that means season ticket prices go down, right? ‘Cuz you get one less game?Right?
I wonder if Brazilians are up for this. They are obsessed with futebol, but much less with other sports.
Not sure it matters. The NFL’s position is you’ll get our brand of football whether you like it or not. Frankly, can’t imagine a worse time to visit a foreign city. Arrive and find it full of American NFL fans in their XXL jerseys.
Hi, everybody! It’s me, the obligatory Brazilian commenting on a Brazil-related post. Also, thanks for the credit, Paul! I believe this will be a success among my countrymen. We have built, over the last 15-20 years, a dedicated fanbase that, I believe, will be strong enough to fill the stadium and enjoy the occasion. The league organized some events in some major Brazilian cities over the last few years to “test the waters”, and they were successful, as far as I know. It is a niche sport, but there’s a lot of people who care about the sport.