NFL
Madrid will have to wait, Brazil confirmed to host NFL game in 2024: which teams will play?
The Spanish capital will have to wait as Brazil will be the host of an international NFL game in 2024.
The battle between Madrid and several Brazilian cities in recent months to host an NFL game in 2024 is over. NFL have confirmed that São Paulo will be the new home of the NFL for next season.
This does not mean that Madrid is ruled out, but that it will have to wait, as it will be the turn of the Spanish capital in 2025, something also reported earlier in the year. Sources also confirmed that the Santiago Bernabéu will be chosen ahead of the Estadio Metropolitano.
NFL ‘will definitely’ go to Madrid
The NFL made their Brazil decision official on Wednesday, coinciding with the meeting held by the owners of the league’s 32 franchises in Irving, Texas. There, in addition, the result of a vote was announced in which the number of international games in 2025 will be raised to nine (this season there have been five), making the decision to choose Madrid even more viable.
“We are optimistic (with the outcome of the vote) and we are excited about the fact that the NFL continues to grow around the world,” NFL told AS. “We loved Madrid because of all the opportunities it offers, and the NFL will definitely come there,” they added.
Which Brazilian city and stadium will host NFL in 2024?
The Arena Corinthians stadium in São Paulo will be the venue for the NFL’s 2024 international games, taking place in a country that is the league’s third largest market, behind only the United States and Mexico, where the NFL has not played since 2022 due to renovation work on the Azteca Stadium.
The fact that it is such an important country in terms of interest and commercial possibilities, as well as the absence of a North American nation (with Mexico out of the running) are the main factors that have guided the league in their decision.
Which NFL teams will play in Brazil?
São Paulo, moreover, won the race over Rio de Janeiro, where NFL officials also had in mind, as they did in Madrid, to study a possible destination. It is not expected, however, that when the Brazilian city is announced, the teams that will play there will be confirmed (the Miami Dolphins, who also have them in Spain, are the only team with international marketing rights in that country).
It has been 37 days since Roger Goodell confirmed to AS that they were close to making a final decision: “I expect the final decision to come in the next 45 days,” the NFL commissioner said, “I think the chances of seeing a regular game in Spain are high,” Goodell also remarked. He did not lie, and it will simply take place in 2025 and not in 2024, as many fans had dreamed. São Paulo, meanwhile, will share the limelight next year with London and Munich, the other two cities that will host international matches. A little patience until one of the world’s greatest spectacles lands at the Santiago Bernabéu.