The NFL is going bigger and broader with its international schedule starting in 2024, announcing Wednesday that it will play a game in Brazil for the first time ever, while expanding its 2025 overseas slate to as many as nine different contests.
The Brazil game will be held at Arena Corinthians in São Paulo, Brazil’s most populous city, as NFL Media reported. That stadium notably hosted six matches in the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
The NFL’s 2025 expansion, meanwhile, marks a drastic bump from its most recent International Series; the league hosted five different overseas games in each of the last two years. The Jaguars were already contracted to play at least one home game at London’s Wembley Stadium through 2024, and they’re set to return to England as part of the expanded overseas slate in 2025.
NFL owners voted on São Paulo as a host city while meeting in Dallas on Wednesday, per ESPN, with several representatives from Brazil in attendance to celebrate the decision. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said previously the NFL could add a new international location “as early as” 2024, with league officials also scouting Madrid and Rio de Janeiro as possible sites, ESPN reported.
“There’s a lot of interest in the NFL (in Brazil),” league executive Peter O’Reilly previously told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. “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.”
Other locations the NFL has visited in recent years include Germany and Mexico.
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CBSSports.com Headlines…