There’s never been a Friday night football event quite like the one that will be unfolding tonight. No high school, not even the one crafted in movies and/or on beloved cult TV series, has done something like this. And not even a more aggressive FOX college schedule will offer anything quite as enticing or historic as what the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles will be doing to open their respective 2024 NFL campaigns
As AXIOS PHILADELPHIA’s Mike D’Onofrio explained to his disenfranchised Iggles boosters this morning:
Friday’s Eagles-Packers game in São Paulo marks the NFL’s first-ever regular season game in South America.
As to why that’s the case, of course, the color green is involved:
The league is serious about growing its footprint, and Brazil is a key market.
- The country has more than 38 million fans of the game, per the NFL — the second largest behind Mexico.
And in a country where green is the dominant color of its flag and national teams, it’s somehow apropos that these two teams will be competing.
Except, as CBS SPORTS’ Cody Benjamin observed, because of more locally based reasons, the de facto home team that doesn’t have the color in its name will be clad in a different hue:
It’s the same color unofficially banned by the Brazilian soccer team that plays in the stadium due to a longstanding local rivalry.
Why two NFL teams who prominently feature green were specifically chosen by the NFL to headline the league’s first-ever South American contest is another story entirely.
The Eagles, however, have planned accordingly, stripping their debut uniform of most green flourishes by opting for alternate black helmets and jerseys to go with white pants — the first time they’ve ever worn such a combination. They’ve insisted publicly their choices have more to do with honoring Corinthians, the host soccer club, than avoiding the disdain of any locals with contempt for the color green.
Regardless of how they will be dressed, it’s a top-notch game involving likely playoff contenders led by two highly paid young quarterbacks. And it will be yet another opportunity for hungry fans to grudgingly cough up, even temporarily, some bucks they may have not yet stopped suibscriptions to since last month’s Olympics ended, as THE ATHLETIC’s Jenna West observed:
In a twist for fans, January’s AFC wild-card matchup between the Miami Dolphins and eventual champion Kansas City Chiefs was only available via streaming — on Peacock. Although people were first confused about why they couldn’t watch the game on TV, it proved a success for Peacock with a ratings bonanza. Following last season’s success, Peacock and the NFL are intertwined again this season. The streaming-only slate kicks off with Friday’s game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers in São Paulo, the first international game of 2024.
And it if this game is anything like the one that transpired on Peacock and its old school NBC stablemate last night, there should be no worries that the audience won’t find it or show up. OUTKICK’s Armando Salguero was still raving when he dropped his writeup early this morning:
The league’s kickoff game between the Baltimore Ravens and defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs Thursday night had it all. And we do mean everything:
Drama.
Controversy.
Heroes and goats.
What a wild environment it was down there,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said afterward. “It was two heavyweights in a fight right down to the end.
“They say it’s a game of inches? It might be shorter than that.”
(B)ecause the last play of the game decided the outcome. By perhaps a quarter of an inch.
Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely caught what was called a touchdown on the field as time expired. The score put the Ravens in position to tie or win the game.
Except replay gets a vote and that recount decided one of Likely’s feet was straddling the white end line, just out of bounds.
It all added up to a thrilling escape for the two-time defending Chiefs, a 27-20 nail bater that sent home at least one globally famous fan hope happy.
She’s probably not showing up tonight. But maybe The Girl From Ipanema–or at least A Girl From Ipanema–might.
And I know I’m gonna find a way to do same.
Courage…