Fly Eagles fly!
The Philadelphia Eagles will have a unique start to their 2024 regular-season with a Friday night game in Brazil, Commissioner Roger Goodell announced during his annual state of the NFL press conference with reporters at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, home of Super Bowl LVIII.
This is a huge milestone for the league, expanding the game even more. It will be the NFL’s first game in South America and the first NFL season opener on a Friday since September 18, 1970, when the Rams defeated the Cardinals by three touchdowns, 34-13, at L.A. Coliseum.
The game will be played on September 6 at Arena Corinthians in São Paulo, which has a capacity of 47,252. It is the home stadium of Sport Club Corinthians Paulista soccer team and was used for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and for soccer in the 2016 Olympics.
The Eagles’ opponent and kickoff time will be made public at a later date.
“The Eagles organization is honored to have been selected to play in the first-ever National Football League game in South America,” owner Jeffrey Lurie said in a statement.
Embed from Getty Images“With the global growth of our sport being a top priority to our league, we embrace the opportunity to grow our fanbase around the world and bring Eagles football to the 38 million sports fans in Brazil. One of the world’s most culturally diverse nations, Brazil is an international melting pot, and we look forward to experiencing its warm, vibrant, and welcoming environment later this year.”
This contest will be recognized in the standings as a home game for the Eagles. They are scheduled for nine home games in 2024, so they will still have eight games in front of their fans at Lincoln Financial Field. Their road opponents in 2024 in addition to their three division games are the Falcons, Panthers, Browns, Packers, Jaguars and Steelers. The Jaguars play in London every year, so naturally they are ruled out as a potential opponent.
The last time the Eagles opened a season on a Friday was way back on September 24, 1948, when they lost to the Chicago Cards 21-14 at Comiskey Park. However, their luck would change dramatically as they went on to win their first NFL Championship three months later at Shibe Park.
Last time the Eagles played on a Friday was September 30, 1960, when they beat their arch rival Dallas Cowboys 27-25 at the Cotton Bowl. They also won the NFL Championship that year.
Overall, the Eagles are 2-5-1 on Fridays, including back-to-back losses to the Pittsburgh Pirates and Detroit Lions seven days apart in 1935.
Friday games in the NFL in the 1960s were the norm instead of the outlier, but since 1970 they have become few and far between, only with 11, including a Jets-Dolphins matinee on this past November 24 in the NFL inaugural Black Friday game.
This will be the Eagles’ second overseas regular-season game. They beat the Jaguars 24-18 at Wembley Stadium in London in October 2018.
They have also played preseason games overseas versus the New Orleans Saints in Mexico City in 1978, in London in 1989 versus the Cleveland Browns, 1991 versus the Buffalo Bills and in 1993 versus the Saints.
“This landmark first international game in South America demonstrates the ongoing expansion of our global footprint,” Goodell said. “Playing on Friday night of Week 1 is a unique way to highlight our international growth and ambitions.”
Other international games in 2024 with the “home” team will be in London (Bears, Vikings, Jaguars) and Munich, Germany (Panthers).
Since starting international regular-season games in 2007, the NFL has featured 36 games in London, five games in Mexico City and two games in Germany.
