The NFL has confirmed that NBC’s streaming platform Peacock has been selected to exclusively broadcast the league’s first game in Brazil.
The NFL game on 6 September 2024 will be hosted in São Paulo, Brazil and marks the league’s first foray into the South American market after announcing the country and Spain as the latest international destinations for NFL games.
Held at the Neo Química Arena, the game will feature the Philadelphia Eagles, with its opponents being announced at a later date.
The São Paulo game will become Peacock’s third exclusive NFL game having showcased its first two last season, the Buffalo Bill-San Diego Chargers game, as well as the record-breaking AFC Wild Card game between Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins last January.
Rick Cordella, President of NBC Sports, said: “It’s exciting for Peacock to exclusively showcase the NFL’s first-ever regular-season game in Brazil as part of NBC Sports’ unprecedented presentation of three primetime games on the NFL’s opening weekend.
“Peacock continues to deliver the best experience in sports streaming, as this game will follow this summer’s Paris Olympics and Paralympics, which will have every event live streamed on the service.”
The Peacock exclusive regular season game will be broadcast on NBC stations in the competing team cities and available on mobile devices via NFL+.
Peacock will stream all NBC Sunday Night Football (SNF) games in 2024, including the playoffs, and the Football Night in America studio show. The exclusive Peacock Sunday Night Football Final will also return with expanded postgame coverage following SNF each week.
The NFL will have noted Peacock’s record-breaking streaming performance for the AFC Wild Card game as a suitable broadcaster for its first game in Brazil.
NBC revealed that the Chiefs-Dolphins game reached 27.6 million viewers in total, peaking at an average of 24.6 million viewers in the second quarter and averaging out to 23 million viewers across Peacock and NBC stations, making it the most streamed event in US history.
Hans Schroeder, NFL Executive Vice President of Media Distribution, commented: “As media consumption habits evolve, the NFL continues to work with our partners to put our games on digital platforms where our fans are increasingly spending their time.
“The historic Wild Card game on Peacock in January was a viewership success and we look forward to continuing our strong streaming distribution with the opening weekend game in Brazil on Peacock.”
Brazil, along with the announced game in Madrid, Spain, are key markets that have joined the NFL’s Global Markets Programme as part of the league’s internationalisation efforts over the past decade.
Having held NFL games in countries such as the UK and more recently Germany, the league is continuing to branch the sport out across multiple markets in a bid to increase the NFL’s brand and enhance interest in the sport on a global level.
When speaking to Insider Sport, John MacCarter, VP of Finance and Analytics for the New York Jets, spoke on why countries like the UK have become a key focus on the franchise and the league in terms of growing the sport across the globe.
