SÃO PAULO, Brazil — The Chargers performed host to the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs on Friday within the first of the NFL’s document seven worldwide video games, with upcoming matchups between totally different groups in London, Madrid, Dublin and Berlin. Subsequent season, the Rams will plant a flag in Australia with a regular-season recreation in Melbourne, the league’s first foray Down Underneath.
The NFL is concentrated on a long-range worldwide technique, not a sequence of one-off curiosities.
“It’s the opposite of the circus comes to town,” mentioned Peter O’Reilly, NFL government vice chairman of membership enterprise, worldwide and league occasions. “It’s not one-and-done. It’s play the game and be engaged year-round. All clubs now have the rights in at least one market and that’s a long-term commitment. We’re investing in the long term to become a true global sport property.”
That may take some doing, particularly in nations reminiscent of Brazil, the place American soccer barely registers a blip on the sports activities radar with curiosity dwarfed by the fervour for soccer.
Nonetheless, Corinthians Area was stuffed to the brim Friday night time with almost 50,000 individuals, and followers — overwhelmingly adorned in pink Chiefs jerseys — who stood the vast majority of the sport.
O’Reilly calls it the pebble-in-the-pond impact. Stage a recreation and watch as ripples unfold all through the area. Final month, the NFL signed a multi-year take care of Globo, Brazil’s largest media firm.
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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, entrance, and Chiefs proprietor Clark Hunt pour beers for followers throughout a Chiefs occasion in São Paulo, Brazil, on Thursday night time.
“Ultimately, it’s about building fans and providing as much reach as possible,” he mentioned. “Yes, the financials are important at the end of the day, but it’s really about reach. How do we bring the NFL to more fans? This game was streamed free on YouTube around the world. We’re just opening up to a much wider audience.”
Stated NFL commissioner Roger Goodell: “We know we have 36 million fans in Brazil. … Our players, and even our coaches, enjoy being on the global stage.”
The person groups are getting extra concerned as effectively, slightly than leaving the heavy lifting as much as the NFL. For the most recent Brazil recreation — the second in São Paulo and solely the second regular-season NFL recreation within the Southern Hemisphere — each the Chargers and Chiefs hosted ticketed events for his or her followers and numerous influencers from around the globe.
At Chiefs Home on Thursday night time, Goodell and Chiefs proprietor Clark Hunt participated in a panel interview then acquired behind the bar and poured beer for the attendees.
“This is my favorite job, being a bartender,” mentioned Goodell, standing beside an ice chest of Budweisers and filling plastic cups. “You make people happy… They don’t boo you here.”
Recording artist Karol G performs at halftime in the course of the Chargers’ win over the Chiefs in São Paulo, Brazil, on Friday night time.
(Buda Mendes / Getty Photos)
Within the panel dialogue, Hunt mentioned: “We’ve been very transparent about our desire to become the world’s team. Now we get to come to the most important country in South America and introduce them to Chiefs-style football.”
After a pair hours, the person usually voted probably the most highly effective government in sports activities hopped in a sprinter van and made his technique to the Chargers social gathering, the place membership proprietor Dean Spanos did some mingling with party-goers, posing for photographs with a big crew flag a fan handed him.
By recreation’s finish Friday, it was Spanos who left completely happy, with the Chargers upsetting the defending AFC champions, 27-21, beating Kansas Metropolis for the primary time in eight tries.
Chargers proprietor Dean Spanos attends a crew social gathering in São Paulo, Brazil, on Thursday forward of the crew’s win over the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs on Friday.
(Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Instances)
In contrast to final 12 months, when the Philadelphia Eagles and Inexperienced Bay Packers had bother discovering their footing on a enjoying floor designed for soccer, the grass held up this time. It was a newly put in hybrid subject of rye and artificial grass that might endure the wear and tear and tear of 300-pound combatants.
“No complaints at all,” Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh mentioned after the victory. “The atmosphere was great. The field was great. Everything was a plus-plus. Brazil has a real good place in my heart from now on.”
The NFL feels the identical approach.
“We’re still a challenger; we know that soccer is clearly No. 1,” O’Reilly mentioned. “But we believe we’ve got the runway to really grow. There are not that many barriers for us. It’s really just about our commitment to getting after it and building the fan base. We’re seeing results.”
