The NFL has tried hard to capture a global audience for quite some time. It all began with NFL Europe, a developmental minor league that was founded in 1989 and launched in 1991. Over the years, teams popped up in Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
The league ran until 2007, the same year that the NFL began holding regular season games overseas. The inaugural NFL International Series game was played in London in October of 2007, and there has been a game in England every year since then (except for 2020). Since 2016, games have also been held in Mexico and Germany.
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NFL Brazil coming in 2024
Rumors had floated around that Spain was the NFL’s next target, but it appears the league is thinking of going with a little bit more samba: Brazil is slated to host an NFL game in 2024.
Assuming the NFL would want to hold the game at the largest capacity stadium in Brazil, the primary option would be the Maracanã. The famous soccer stadium has been around since 1950 and has hosted some of the most important games in the sport’s history.
There’s no doubt that a game at the Maracanã, even a regular season one, would be a spectacle reminiscent of any Super Bowl. It’s an opportunity the NFL can’t pass up.