The Philadelphia Eagles’ opponent in Brazil has been announced, and contrary to earlier reports, it won’t be the Cleveland Browns.
The Green Bay Packers will play the Eagles in the Week 1 matchup, exclusively airing on Peacock.
The Friday night game will take place at Corinthians Arena in São Paulo on September 6. The primetime matchup gives NBC three NFL games in the first four days of the 2024 season, along with the NFL Kickoff opening night matchup on September 5 and the Sunday Night Football season opener on September 8. Matchups for those two games have yet to be announced.
“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,” said Rick Cordella, President, NBC Sports. “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.”
“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,” said Hans Schroeder, NFL Executive Vice President of Media Distribution. “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.”
Last month, the Browns were rumored to be heading to Brazil. Defensive tackle Mo Hurst said as much during a radio appearance. With the Packers, and not the Browns, being tabbed to play in the Brazil game, it’s reasonable to wonder if the NFL changed its mind after Hurst spilled the beans or if Hurst was mistaken and the Browns were never going to play in the game in the first place.
Regardless of the true story, Peacock now has an exclusive opening-week game that wouldn’t be out of place on NBC’s Sunday Night Football schedule. That’s a pretty impressive coup, and we’ll have to wait and see if the Packers-Eagles selection negatively impacts the matchup in the Sunday Night Football opener.