Follow live coverage of Philadelphia Eagles vs Green Bay Packers in the NFL Brazil game today
Brazil is set to host its first NFL game as the Philadelphia Eagles face the Green Bay Packers on Friday night.
Having staged the men’s World Cup (2014) and Olympics (2016) in the past decade, the South American nation is no stranger to huge sporting events.
“It’s an awesome opportunity to play the first-ever NFL game here,” Packers quarterback Jordan Love said, as reported by packers.com. “I know there’s a lot of fans over here. It’s awesome to be live here in front of you guys. I’m very excited. We said it the other day – this is the Brazilian Super Bowl here, so we’re gonna make it a great game for you guys.”
So where has the NFL decided to host the game later today? Why have they picked that venue? And why has the traditional green of the Eagles’ and Packers’ kits been an issue at the chosen stadium?
Where is the stadium for the Eagles-Packers game?
The Corinthians Arena, also known as the Neo Quimica Arena due to a sponsorship deal with the Brazilian-based pharmaceutical company, is in the city of Sao Paulo, in southeastern Brazil. Sao Paulo is the country’s most populous city with over 11 million people — most in the world outside Asia.
As the name suggests, it is usually home to the men’s team of the Corinthians football (soccer) club. Their men’s team play in the top league of the Brazilian game, Serie A.
Corinthians playing at the Arena (Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images)
The Eagles will be the ‘home’ team for this game, albeit it’s over 4,500 miles (7,500km) from their usual stadium — Lincoln Financial Field.
When was Corinthians Arena built and how many people can it hold?
It was built for the 2014 World Cup, with construction taking three years, and staged that tournament’s opening game, which saw hosts Brazil beat Croatia 3-1, and five other matches. Following the World Cup, the stadium became the home of Corinthians, whose men’s team have secured two league titles since. This season, however, they are in a relegation fight, 17th in the 20-team table with 13 games to go.
The ground was also a venue for football at the 2016 Olympics, during which Neymar led the host nation’s men’s team to a gold medal.
In Brazil’s bid proposal to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, the stadium’s capacity is listed as 47,252. However, 63,267 was given as the attendance for the 2014 men’s World Cup semi-final between Argentina and the Netherlands. There were temporary seats added to the stadium for the tournament, although these were removed soon after that game.
In an NFL context, that higher figure would compare to the 67,594 capacity of Lincoln Financial Field and the 81,441 capacity of the Packers’ home, Lambeau Field. There are no current NFL stadiums with a capacity as low as 47,000.
Why did the NFL pick this stadium out of all those in Brazil?
As reported in this article by The Athletic’s Mike Jonesan international city looking to stage an NFL game must have a suitable venue. But considerations include far more than field conditions and seating capacity. A potential venue must be able to accommodate all of the technological needs required to play and broadcast an NFL game.
Mike North, NFL vice president of broadcast planning, called the league’s IT department “the matchline of defense — the first ones to kind of go into a site survey and try to figure out if the venue could actually handle it”.
Cities must also have appropriate hotel, dining and practice facilities to support two NFL teams, whose travelling parties include squads of 53 players each, plus the coaching staff, support personnel and team executives.
Then, other considerations come into play, North said: “Are there NFL football fans already there? Have they shown a recent trend of more interest, whether it’s through social media or video downloads or hats and jersey sales, or fantasy football participation, or, maybe most importantly, flag football participation.”
The Eagles and Packers play on Friday night (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
The NFL also must ensure the international venues have room on their calendars for their games — Corinthians played at home last Sunday but don’t have a match this weekend because of football’s ongoing September international break. Their next fixture, also at home, is on Thursday, September 12.
The Eagles are at ‘home’ today because the NFL’s regular season consists of 17 games for each team.
Due to the odd number, the teams in the two parallel 16-club conferences that make up the league, the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference (NFC), have nine-game and eight-game home schedules on alternating years, and in 2024, it is the NFC teams’ turn to have nine. The NFL therefore selects its host teams for international games from clubs with an extra home game each season.
Reporting by Mike Jones
What is the issue with the teams’ green uniforms?
Both NFL teams in Brazil this week usually play in kits featuring their own distinctive shade of green. At the Corinthians Arena, however, that colour is usually banned because of the team’s intense rivalry with fellow Sao Paulo club Palmeiras.
Corinthians go as far as to fine their players for wearing green. ESPN reported in 2021 that former Manchester City forward Jo wore green boots while playing for Corinthians and had to pay up, despite believing they were turquoise blue.
As the ‘home’ team today, the Eagles have therefore decided to switch to a black and white uniform for the first time, the same colours as Corinthians’ home kit.
“We chose the colour,” Eagles assistant general manager Jon Ferrari told ESPN. “We sort of looked… (Corinthians) is the host team, right? They’re black and white. That’s their colour scheme. And all throughout that stadium is black and white there.”
The Packers risk being frowned upon as they will wear their traditional white, yellow and green uniforms. At the least, the colours are similar to the gold and green seen on Brazil’s national flag.
Where else will the NFL hold international games this season?
This opening-weekend game will be one of five regular-season NFL matches played internationally in 2024, with three in London (two at Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium, one at Wembley Stadium) in October and another in Munich, Germany the following month.
“Bringing the NFL to new continents, countries and cities around the world is a critical element of our plan to continue to grow the game globally,” said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
NFL clubs approved a vote for up to eight international games in 2025, when it has already been announced the league will break new ground by playing at Spain’s Bernabeu stadium, home of 2023-24 Champions League final winners Real Madrid. The league has also staged several regular-season matches in Mexico in the past two decades.
(Top photo: The Corinthians Arena; Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images)
