Why the Eagles are playing in Brazil
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
Friday's Eagles-Packers game in São Paulo marks the NFL's first-ever regular season game in South America.
The big picture: 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.
What they're saying: "We're sharing the NFL experience with the world," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said this week on the "Pat McAfee Show."
- "Every time we've done this, they want more," he said.
Flashback: The NFL has a long history of hosting games on foreign soil.
- Both NFL and AFL teams have played more than 50 preseason games internationally since 1950.
- The league's first international regular season game was in Mexico City in 2005.
- And since the 2007 launch of its International Series, the league has held dozens of regular season games in London, Mexico City and Germany.
Threat level: Concerns around the safety of the players and their families lingers over the Eagles' season-opener. Crime rates in Brazil are among the highest in Latin America, per AP.
- Some players have been told not to leave their hotels and not to walk on the streets holding their cellphones, per Reuters.
- Meanwhile, the Sao Paulo state's government will beef up security around the event, AP reports.
What we're watching: Rick Ridall, a sports management expert at Temple University, said in a news release that he envisions the NFL expanding to Europe by 2030.