NFL making history with Brazil game

Article posted by Coliseum, January 5^th, 2024

Image: Coliseum GSVA

The National Football League (NFL) will host its first ever regular season game in South America when gridiron heads to São Paulo, Brazil in 2024.

CNN said that the game will take place in the 49,000-seat Corinthians Stadium, usually the home of Brazilian top-flight soccer club Corinthians.

Corinthians Stadium joins a roster of four other international games for the NFL in 2024, in addition to the Brazil fixture.

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The Jacksonville Jaguars have an agreement (outside of the league’s deal with overseas stadiums) to play at Wembley Stadium in London, while the English capital will also host two games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Munich’s Allianz Arena – home to soccer giant Bayern Munich – will also host a game. Two regular season games were held in Frankfurt, Germany, this year.

The first regular-season NFL game in Germany was played between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Seattle Seahawks at the Allianz Arena in November 2022.

The Miami Dolphins are currently affiliated with both Spain and Brazil as part of the NFL’s Global Marketing Program, while the Chicago Bears also own rights to market in Spain.

The Global Markets Program grants the NFL clubs access to international areas for marketing, fan engagement and commercialization as part of the NFL’s long-term plan to spread the game and their brand globally.

According to NFL.com, the league has 38 million fans in Brazil, where the sport is popular among younger fans thanks to a strong social media presence.

CNN further stated that São Paulo was selected over Madrid, though the Spanish capital has not been ruled out as a future destination for the NFL.

Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s executive vice president of club business, international and league events, said, “The good news is both are really viable and interested in hosting games.

“Pending having the opportunity to play in Madrid and Brazil in the future, we would be excited to do that. The reason we went first with Brazil really ties to going to a new continent for the first time, into South America for the first time for the regular season.”

Spain’s opportunity could come as soon as 2025, as the NFL teams voted on Wednesday to increase the amount of international games per season from that year.

The resolution requires each team to play a game overseas every four years, which means that the NFL could schedule up to eight games abroad (not including the Jaguars agreement) every season.

This also provides the league with the opportunity to return to Mexico City, which last hosted a game in 2022.

Meanwhile, the December League Meeting also saw team owners vote for Super Bowl LXI in February 2027 to be held in SoFi Stadium in Inglewood California.

It will be the second time that the stadium – home of the Los Angeles Rams – has hosted the Super Bowl in a five-year span. In 2022, the Rams took down the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 and became only the second team in NFL history to win the Super Bowl on their home field.

“The city did an outstanding job hosting Super Bowl 56 in the incredible SoFi Stadium and we believe that Super Bowl 61 will be even more memorable,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement.

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