NFL to play game in Brazil in 2024, expands int'l slate in 2025
The NFL on Wednesday awarded a 2024 regular-season game to Brazil and voted to expand the slate of international games from four to up to eight games beginning in 2025.
The game in Brazil will be played in Sao Paulo at Corinthians Arena, which is the home of Brazilian soccer club SC Corinthians and was a venue for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Both announcements were made at the owners meetings in Dallas on Wednesday. The league said new markets and hosts/stadiums for future seasons would be announced at a later date.
"Becoming a global sport is a major strategic priority for the league and 32 teams," commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. "Increasing international game inventory allows us to grow our global presence and share our game with exciting new markets to connect with more fans around the world."
Peter O'Reilly, the NFL's executive vice president, club business, international and league events, said Wednesday that the eight games "gives us some optionality" with markets, although the hope is to be back in Mexico and Germany annually, and London is already annually on the schedule.
The NFL might use the 2025 season as a ramp-up and thus might not play the full slate of eight games that year. Multiple team executives, however, told ESPN that they believe that, eventually, just about every team will play an international game each year.
The NFL also will continue to discuss Spain as a possible location for a regular-season game in 2025 at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, the home of legendary soccer club Real Madrid.
The NFL has never played a regular-season game in Brazil or Spain, but O'Reilly told ESPN earlier this year that the league was "spending time in those markets."
"There's a lot of interest in the NFL," O'Reilly said during a September interview on "The Adam Schefter Podcast." "I mean, we saw it. We did a Super Bowl viewing party last year down in Brazil, and it was packed, and the energy is there.
"You've got some classic soccer clubs around the world who are really interested in hosting the NFL and building a relationship with the NFL. So, the marriage of those two -- there's interests there, for sure, and it's just determining the timing and the approach."
Under the NFL's global markets program, the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins have commercial rights in Spain. The Dolphins are the only team with rights in Brazil.
The NFL has made an aggressive push internationally by adding a 17th game to the schedule to facilitate games abroad and give teams marketing rights in various countries. The league played three regular-season games in London and two in Frankfurt, Germany, earlier this year.
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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