NFL to drastically expand international schedule, beginning in Brazil

IRVING, Texas — After more than two years of conversations with partners in Brazil, the NFL approved a resolution Wednesday to host a 2024 regular-season game in São Paulo.

The vote paves the way for NFL play on a new continent.

“We could not be more thrilled to bring a historic, first-ever game to South America,” NFL executive vice president Peter O’Reilly said Wednesday at a news conference.

Expect São Paulo to be the latest, rather than the last, city outside of the United States to land an NFL game. Because on Wednesday at the league's annual winter meeting, membership also approved a massive expansion of international play.

Beginning in 2025, the NFL can play up to eight regular-season games on international stages, in addition to the Jacksonville Jaguars' standing annual contest at Wembley Stadium in England.

It's unlikely that fans will see eight international games actualized in 2025, but expect a steady climb.

"I anticipate it's more of a ramp-up, rather than going in 2025 all the way to the eight," O'Reilly said. "We want to do it right, and that's based on having the right partners, the right cities, the right stadia."

For 2024, those partners will include Wembley and Tottenham Spur Stadium in the London area, Allianz Arena in Munich, and Corinthians Arena in São Paulo.

The league anticipates returning play to Mexico City's Estadio Azteca after stadium renovation as well as continued work toward a game in Madrid, Spain. Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo all were in conversation for the 2024 game. Brazil has the third-largest NFL fan base after Mexico and the United States, São Paulo mayor Ricardo Cortes said via interpreter in a news conference with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

As the NFL expands, it's adamant that overseas expansion not be limited to the 60 minutes of a game. Fan events, flag football initiatives and more factor into business plans.

"We’re not going to be successful if it’s about going in and just playing a game and leaving," O'Reilly said. "That’s not what we did in London, that’s not what we did in Germany, and that’s not what we’ll do in Brazil. This is about a game as a catalyst [for] year-round engagement.

"Frankly, it is about that fan passion and making sure the fans beyond the game itself [have] ways to connect with it."

The NFL began playing regular-season games internationally in 2005, with a Mexico City debut. Since then, the league has staged 50 international regular-season games, including 36 in London, six in Toronto, five in Mexico City, two in Frankfurt and one in Munich.

With the NFC hosting nine home games in 2024 (the AFC will host eight), expect an NFC team to visit São Paulo. The Dallas Cowboys are widely believed to be a leading contender, multiple league sources told Yahoo Sports, though team owner Jerry Jones declined to confirm that Tuesday as he instead emphasized the club's connection to Mexico.

No team will be required to play more than one regular-season game outside of North America, though they could choose to, per the league's Wednesday resolution. International games will not be scheduled in the final four weeks of the regular season, and each club is eligible to designate two opponents to remove from consideration for their international contest.