NFL is coming to Brazil, and local media and fans are thrilled

Photo by Bruno Escolastico Sousa Silva/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Our Brazilian reporter spoke with the biggest names in American football in the country to share the impact of the NFL’s debut in the country.

Brazil is often referred to as “the country of football.” If you’re a soccer fan anywhere around the world, you’ve certainly heard about the “seleção” and their “joga bonito” style of play, that’s led the South American nation to become the first and only national team to win soccer’s biggest event — the World Cup — five times. Worldwide when you talk about soccer, Brazil has been synonymous with natural talent in the beautiful game for a long time.

What most people don’t know about Brazil is that more and more, a population that grew up hearing about Pelé and his 1000 goals, Garrincha and his unstoppable dribbling, and then were able to watch the likes of Romário, Ronaldo, and Ronaldinho leading their national teams to world titles as they dominated eras, has found their attention caught by a previously unknown sport that’s impressed with how exciting and unpredictable it can be on any given Sunday — or Monday, Thursday, Saturday, and now, at least in Brazil, even on Friday.

But, how much does bringing an American football game to Brazil really mean to the NFL community there? The answer may surprise you.

In speaking about the upcoming NFL game in Brazil with my wife, Rosinéia Schmude, she commented that it seems to be a very inclusive sport. She’s seen plenty of American football thanks to my unyielding passion for the Buffalo Bills.

“It’s not common to see a sport where you can see people who are tall or short, skinny or bulky, and sometimes even a little overweight, sharing the same field and having important roles in the very same game. No matter if it’s running fast, throwing or kicking the football, or even if you’re just outsmarting people with your schemes as a coach, you can find a role in football and that’s something that amazes me” she concludes.

It’s not just me, though. Brazil has established itself as the third-biggest market for NFL audiences, and the second-biggest NFL fan base in the world (only behind Mexico) with around 38 million fans in the country, and a growth of 270% in comparison to 2013. It all started with a few broadcasts from TV Bandeirantes in the 1990s and continued through the 2000s when players like Brett Favre, Michael Vick, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady, among others, were responsible for drawing young Brazilians’ attention with their elite performances.

“The first game that caught my attention was Super Bowl XXXII, between the Green Bay Packers and Denver Broncos”, says Deivis Chiodini, a respected football mind in Brazil who would later become a winning head coach in the first stages of the amateur football played in Brazil. Today, Chiodini owns a website specialized in NFL and college football and is also a color commentator for ESPN Brasil.

“The Packers were favorites but Terrell Davis started to run the ball so well… I rooted for the Broncos that day and they won, the rest is history.”

Deivis would continue to follow the NFL but he remembers it wasn’t an easy task for new fans.

“The internet wasn’t the same as it is right now, it was very difficult to be able to follow the games, keep up with the scores watch the highlights,” he remembers.

Back in the day, EA Sports’ Madden NFL video games were a big source of knowledge about players and their stats — a way for fans to be able to stay up to date with their teams and their rosters, stats, and even overall records.

It’s been a long journey for football fans in Brazil like Deivis, dealing with all the obstacles to be able to simply watch their favorite teams playing. When the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Green Bay Packers in São Paulo on September 6, it will mark the first time ever an NFL game is played in South America and the first-ever opportunity for tens of thousands of fans to watch the gridiron gladiators bringing their A-game live, in person. More importantly, a sport that’s still very obscure for so many people in the country will have the attention of Brazil’s biggest metropolis for an entire weekend. That represents a huge opportunity for larger growth in popularity among its population.

“The NFL audience is still very niched here”, says Deivis. “This game is another big step in the direction of the sport’s popularization in the country.”

“This game is the cherry on top of the work that has been done in the last few years, trying to connect the NFL with its fans here in Brazil,” says Raphael “Raphão” Martins, NFL Brasil’s head of YouTube content and a football content creator, working with the sport for 15 years and counting.

Raphão (the equivalent of “big Rapha”), fell in love with the NFL when he watched Super Bowl XLIII, where big plays by James Harrison and Santonio Holmes were too much for him to be ignored. He’s been an important contributor to the community ever since, creating content, and also playing and later coaching the sport.

“I got completely fascinated by the game,” he remembers. “This game will officially open the door for the NFL in South America, and I feel like if we can deliver a great successful event, it’ll be just the first of many, with the league expanding its number of international games next season.”

“It’s gonna be a busy week,” he continues. “We’ve received several visits from the NFL, the Eagles, and the Packers, for months now since the game’s announcement, to have all the operation working properly.”

São Paulo was picked as the ideal host for this event because of its huge hotel network (the biggest in Latin America), experience hosting big events — with the Lollapalooza festival and the Formula One Grand Prix happening there every year, and also for having the perfect venue (Arena Corinthians) as an option that offers experience in big events, having already hosted FIFA World Cup and Olympic soccer matches in there. It’s very accessible by subway and train stations and possesses ideal parking lots for tailgating, something that must be part of the experience for NFL fans in the country.

Photo by Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images
Arena Corinthians was identified as the perfect venue for the first-ever NFL game in Brazil.

Inside the stadium, it’s been prepared to receive 50,000 fans on the game day, up from the normal 48,000 attendance, something that already happened in the 2014 World Cup. Other adaptations to the field and locker room sizes have been made to guarantee the best possible infrastructure for everybody involved. São Paulo expects around 100,000 visitors for the game, generating a $60 million income.

Those fans will have a lot to do leading up to Friday’s game. Beginning this past Sunday, September 1, there was an NFL Flag National Tournament, with the winning team going to the Pro Bowl. Then the NFL Experience kicks off at Vila Lobos Park, starting Friday at 3 p.m. local time and going all the way through the weekend, with all kinds of challenges, football clinics, and watch parties, coming to an end on Sunday at 8 p.m. local time.

For the game, the NFL has prepared a Super Bowl-like experience with renowned artists Luisa Sonza and Zeeba singing the national anthems and Anitta getting her own halftime show. More than 30,000 tickets sold out in less than two hours right after being made available through the Ticketmaster platform, showing how excited the NFL fans in South America were for this opportunity.

“We’ve been working hard, but our team is doing so with a lot of dedication and respect, envisioning to deliver the best NFL experience ever in Brazil, to all the fans that will visit the São Paulo over the weekend,” says Raphão.

The “country of soccer” is ready to become the country of football as well. This first-ever NFL game in Brazil can make the country a producer of not only “inhos” like Ronaldinho (little Ronaldo), but also “ãos” like Raphão, Deivão, and other guys who love the game and might be able to receive proper development so they can fulfill the dream of representing Brazil in the NFL, playing the sport where everybody is welcome.