Packers’ Murphy Expects Brazil Decision ‘Pretty Soon’

The Green Bay Packers and Cleveland Browns are the finalists to start the 2024 NFL season in Brazil against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Author:
Bill Huber
Apr 09, 2024

In this story:

Green Bay Packers

NFL Brazil

Philadelphia Eagles

Mark Murphy

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers are “still in the running” to play their 2024 NFL season-opening game in Brazil.

Before the annual Tailgate Tour departed from Lambeau Field on Tuesday morning, team President and CEO Mark Murphy said “I anticipate a decision pretty soon” on whether the Packers or Cleveland Browns will face the Philadelphia Eagles in São Paulo on Friday night, Sept. 6.

“We’re either the first- or second-most popular team in Brazil. Apparently, they like green and gold,” Murphy said with a laugh. “I think New England might be ahead of us because of Tom Brady and Gisele but I think that’s a few years. I think we’re very popular there. As we talked about, we’re kind of the people’s team. People really like the idea of a community-owned team, with our history and tradition.”

Whether it’s Eagles vs. Packers or Eagles vs. Browns, the game was scheduled to be a home game for Philadelphia. It’s believed the Eagles would prefer to play the Browns in Brazil so they can enjoy a big homefield advantage against the Packers in what could be a showdown of NFC heavyweights.

As Murphy stated at the NFL Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla., last month, there will be travel issues for the Packers due to the size of Austin Straubel International Airport and the strain of a 12-hour flight – about five hours longer than the 2022 trip to London. At the time, Murphy said an unwelcome solution would be the team busing to Milwaukee before flying to Brazil.

The league is “working through” those issues, Murphy said on Tuesday.

“Philadelphia will just hop on a plane and go down and we’re not sure exactly what we’ll have to do to get to Brazil,” he added.

The game will be the first NFL matchup to be staged in South America. It will be played at Corinthians Arena, which seated more than 63,000 fans for a World Cup soccer match in 2014.

The Packers were the only team in the NFL to have not played an international game until they faced the Giants in London. Now, they could be part of a history-making game in Brazil.

“This is very important for the league,” Murphy said. “The Packers are very popular in Brazil. If we’re chosen, we’ll gladly go.”

A potential game in Brazil isn’t the only landmark event on the Packers’ horizon. Green Bay is set to host the 2025 NFL Draft. Those preparations are “going well,” Murphy said, and will be ramped up soon.

Detroit is anticipating a $160 million impact for this month’s draft.

“The league had a team here a couple weeks ago, kind of looking through everything,” Murphy said. “Obviously, the main focus for the league now is on Detroit, but once we pass that, all the attention will be on Green Bay. We’re excited about it. I think it’s going to be pretty special for the community – probably it would be, I would say, the largest event ever held in Green Bay. We anticipate about 250,000 people.”

Because the draft is conducted by the NFL, the location of the stage will be located will be determined by the league, Murphy said.