The NFL is expanding its opening week slate with an International Series game from Brazil on the opening Friday of play.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced at his pre-Super Bowl press conference Monday that the league will schedule its first ever International Series game from Brazil for the opening Friday of the season, September 6, in primetime. The Eagles will host, with all other details — including television coverage — to be announced. The game marks the first Friday Opening Weekend NFL game since 1970.
The NFL has rarely scheduled Friday games so as to avoid conflicting with high school football. That is not the result of any generosity on the part of the league, but rather a 63-year-old act of Congress.
The 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act that exempted the collective sale of NFL media rights from antitrust scrutiny also bars the league from scheduling games after 6 PM ET on Fridays and Saturdays during the high school and college seasons. That prohibition spans the second Friday in September through the second Saturday in December. Due to this year’s early Labor Day (September 2), opening week coincides with the first Friday of September for the first time since 2019.
The Brazil game will be the first of presumably two Friday NFL windows this season, as the league’s annual Black Friday game enters its second year of existence. Outside of Christmas, the league had not scheduled any Friday games prior to last season since Christmas Eve 2004.
In addition to the Brazil game, the NFL has scheduled the usual slate of European games for next season, including three in London and one in Munich.
(News from NFL 2.5)
