It will be Philadelphia v. Green Bay in Brazil on Friday night September 6. The Browns could wind up playing in London against the Jaguars instead.
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Takeaways from NFL’s decision to send the Packers – not the Browns -- to Brazil to play the Eagles …
About a month ago, the NFL notified the Browns and Packers they were under consideration to be the “visiting” team to play the Eagles in Brazil on September 6.
It’s a historic game -- the NFL’s first venture into Brazil – and was specially announced at the Super Bowl, with news the Eagles would be the home team and the game would be scheduled for Friday night of opening weekend as the first such NFL game in 50 years.
Later, the NFL sold the game’s exclusive streaming rights to Peacock to further gauge the appetite of fans for paying for a stand-alone game during the season. This is yet another new revenue stream the NFL intends to grown and exploit.
“It's a market we think will be an explosive market for us,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said at NFL meetings in Orlando, FL, two weeks ago. “We have 38 million fans down there. We really think this type of event will continue that growth and actually accelerate it. The teams are important, and I expect we’ll have those [announced] in the next week.”
The Browns were enthused.
The Packers were not.
“We’re very supportive of international play,” Packers President Mark Murphy said at league meetings. “The one issue with Green Bay, though, is the size of our airport and the size of our runway. We want to make sure we’re not at a competitive disadvantage in terms of how long it will take us to get to Brazil. There’s some thought we might have to bus to Milwaukee and then fly.”
Further, the Eagles preferred playing the Packers, an NFC rival and upcoming conference power, in their home Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. They wanted to play the Browns -- one of their five AFC opponents -- in Brazil.
But the league wanted the Packers and that’s who it will be.
After two weeks of supposed league arm-twisting and/or incentivizing the trip, Murphy changed his tune.
On Tuesday, Murphy said, "This is very important for the league. The Packers are very popular in Brazil. If we're chosen, we'll gladly go."
After the Packers were announced as the Eagles’ opponent on Wednesday, Murphy said in a statement, “We’re excited to play in front of our devoted fans in Brazil and help build upon the international popularity of the NFL and the Packers. We had a great experience playing internationally for the first time a couple of years ago and we’re proud to be part of the league’s continued global growth.”
The Packers were the last of the 32 NFL teams to be sent abroad for a regular-season game since the league made playing overseas a league objective in 2007. They finally broke their maiden in 2022 with a game in London against the Giants.
They thought the recency of their first overseas trip would save them from being commissioned to Brazil.
They were wrong.
The bee’s knees
The consolation prize for the Browns for losing the game in Brazil is a probable date in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Jaguars consider London their second home. They committed in 2013 to play at least one home game in London’s Wembley Stadium each season, and the committed has been extended two times through 2024.
Last year, the Jaguars played back-to-back games in London. They have hosted eight games in London and played as the visiting team in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium three times. Their 11 total international games are five more than any team.
The Jaguars are one of three teams hosting games in London this season. Chicago and Minnesota will host games in Tottenham. Their opponents have not been named.
The Browns are on Jacksonville’s home schedule this year and appear to be the team to play in London.
Other non-division opponents on the Jaguars’ schedule are the Packers, Vikings, Jets, and Patriots.
The Packers (Brazil) and Vikings (London) already are committed to international games. The Patriots played in Germany last year and the Jets played in London in 2021.
The Browns last played in London in 2017. They were going to be scheduled to play the Jaguars in London in 2020, but COVID wiped out all international games that season.
So now their turn is up again. The game might be announced prior to the overall league schedule announcement in mid-May.
Tally ho.