Thiago De Rose

The NFL is hosting its first-ever game in Brazil tonight. Here's what you need to know 👇 1. This game included the longest flights in NFL history — 10 hours for the Eagles and 11 hours for the Packers. 2. The NFL paid a $500,000 fee to the soccer club that owns the stadium — plus millions more in travel, marketing, etc. – but they were also able to secure $5 million in financial support from the local government. 3. This is the NFL's first Friday night opening weekend game in 50 years, primarily because the NFL squeezed it in a week before the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 would prohibit them from holding the game. For those who are unaware, the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 allowed the NFL to pool its TV rights into a single entity instead of requiring NFL teams to secure their own TV deals. This made the league's TV package more valuable and helped small market teams that otherwise wouldn’t have been able to survive. However, as a way to protect high school and college football from the NFL becoming a monopoly, the exemption stated that the NFL couldn’t hold games on Friday and Saturday nights in the fall. The caveat is that the “fall” is defined as the second Saturday of September through the second Saturday of December, so the NFL beat the deadline by a week. 4. There was a rumor that teams and fans couldn't wear green because a local law prohibits fans from wearing the color of a rival soccer team. But that "law" isn't being applied, and the Packers are wearing their green uniforms. 5. The NFL has spent the last several weeks working with government officials to track air quality in São Paulo, as wildfires in the Amazon have spread smoke through Brazil's biggest city. 6. Similar to last year's Wild Card game between the Chiefs and Dolphins, this game is exclusive to Peacock. 7. Peacock is doing more of these deals because 3 million people signed up for the service to watch last year's playoff game — and even though everyone said they would cancel, 70% of those new subscribers were still signed up for the service three months later. 8. The NFL sold every ticket to this game, which means the revenue from the game will be split between each of the league's 32 teams (like every international game). 9. The NFL will host five international games this year — three in London, one in Germany, and one in Brazil — but they could have seven next year, including one game already scheduled for Madrid and league executives currently exploring options in Australia and Dublin. 10. The NFL says it has 38 million fans in Brazil, with 8.3 million of those being "avid fans," making Brazil the NFL's second-largest international audience behind Mexico. 11. The NFL plans to open a full-time office in Brazil, adding to its offices in Canada, Mexico, London, Germany, Australia, and China. 11. NFL players and reporters won't be able to use Twitter/X during the trip because Brazil's highest court banned its 200 million citizens (and all visitors) from using the platform, a direct attack on free speech. 12. The stadium being used — Corinthians Arena in São Paulo — has 50,000 seats and is one of only a handful of stadiums worldwide to host an NFL game, the FIFA men's World Cup, and the Summer Olympics. 13. Because of safety concerns, São Paulo is deploying specialized civil and military police battalions to sweep the stadium before the game and provide extra security around the city while the NFL teams are in town. But most importantly, this game exemplifies the NFL's shifting strategy around international expansion. Everyone has always assumed that the NFL would eventually build out a European division, with teams playing 4 to 5 "home" games before heading to the U.S. for a month-long streak of "away" games. This made sense because 1) it would help the NFL grow its international audience (and, therefore, revenue), and 2) it would also come with lucrative expansion fees. But things like taxes, logistics, and family, make this super difficult, as this strategy would impact competitive balance, and expansion would dilute talent. So the NFL is shifting toward a new model where instead of building out a European division they will just host a full schedule of international games each year. This would allow the NFL to meaningfully increase revenue because they can sell them as one-off, primetime specials to streaming platforms. The schedule won’t get diluted because the league will expand to an 18-game regular season by the end of this decade, and it means that the NFL will officially own the entire day on Sunday, with NFL games starting at 9:30 a.m. on the East Coast, running through the afternoon schedule, and wrapping up with Sunday Night Football around midnight. Owners will agree because they want more money, and players will put up with it because they get a roughly 50% split of all new revenue, too. However, the real winners will be international NFL fans. Current ticket demand tells us these fans want more NFL action — and with the potential for 10-20 international games each year, it’s looking like that’s precisely what they will get. Enjoy the game! P.S. If you enjoyed this breakdown, follow me (@JoePompliano) for more sports business content.

The Lionel Messi episode is live — and I break down EVERYTHING you need to know about his move to MLS. • Why he chose MLS over Barca/Saudi • How David Beckham built the blueprint • How Messi's deals with Apple/Adidas work • The future equity value of Inter Miami • Messi's (huge) valuation discount • Tax savings in Florida ($100M+) Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/5fX… Enjoy!