SAO PAULO, BRAZIL – SEPTEMBER 06: A general view prior to a game between the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles at Arena Corinthians on September 06, 2024 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Wagner Meier/Getty Images)
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For the second consecutive season, an NFL game in Brazil is on the league’s calendar. The Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs will play a regular season contest in São Paulo on Friday night.
On Sept. 6 2024, the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Green Bay Packers 34-29 in the league’s first-ever regular season game in South America. The matchup averaged 14.2 million viewers on Peacock and local NBC affiliates in the teams’ respective markets.
Meanwhile, this year’s game in Brazil returns to Corinthians Arena, home of the Series A side Corinthians. YouTube will exclusively stream the Week 1 matchup across the globe, marking the first-ever live NFL game broadcast by the technology giant. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET.
Sports media personality Rich Eisen will be the play by play caller for YouTube’s free broadcast. He’ll be joined by Super Bowl champion and analyst Kurt Warner in addition to sideline reporters Stacey Dales and YouTuber Donald De La Haye, who is also known as Deestroying.
Brazil has the NFL’s second largest international fan base after Mexico, making it a key market for the major U.S. professional sports league. A year ago, Peter O’Reilly, executive vice president of club business, international and league events, said the “next market” for the NFL was Brazil.
Through the league’s global markets program, teams have been issued access to certain international markets in order to expand their brand’s presence globally, reach new fans and create additional streams of revenue. There’s four franchises who have been granted access to Brazil: Detroit Lions, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots and Eagles.
In January, The Athletic also reported that the South American country was in discussions with the NFL about a potential long-term contract to host international games, with the possibility of staging as many as two games a year.
Colombian singer Karol G will serve as the halftime performer for this year’s Chargers vs. Chiefs in Brazil. Friday’s contest is the first of seven international regular season games for the NFL during the 2025 season.
For the 2025 NFL season, five streamers and digital platforms — including Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, ESPN+, Peacock and now YouTube — will all have exclusive rights to broadcast at least one regular season game.