Why is the NFL Brazil game on a Friday?

The NFL announced back in February that the Philadelphia Eagles would be the home team to play in the first-ever international game in Brazil, at the Corinthians Arena in São Paulo. On Wednesday, they announced that their opponent will be the Green Bay Packers. Besides being in Brazil, another unusual thing about this game is that it will be played on the Friday night of Week 1. This will be the first time the NFL has played a Friday game in the opening week in 54 years.

What are the rules about Friday games in the NFL?

It’s unusual to have a Friday game in the NFL, and there’s a reason for that. Under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, the league cannot broadcast a Friday (or Saturday) game from the second weekend in September until the second weekend in December as those days are reserved for high school and college football. The exception is if a “substantial portion” of the game is over by 6 p.m. local time. This is how the NFL was able to schedule a Black Friday game in 2023, with the Dolphins vs Jets kicking off at 3 p.m. ET.

As for the Brazil game, since the NFL always starts the season on the first Thursday after Labor Day, that will mean that the first weekend of the 2024 NFL season falls on the first weekend of September - Friday, September 6-Sunday, September 8 (as Labor Day 2024 is on Monday, September 2 this year). That allows for a Friday night game in Week 1.

The last time we saw a Friday night game was in 1970 between the Los Angeles Rams and then St. Louis Cardinals in Los Angeles. However, with this rule in place, it’s possible the league could schedule another Friday night game in 2025, as Labor Day will fall on September 1 that year. We may well see another Friday night international game in the 2025-26 season.