The Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles will meet Friday night at Corinthians Arena in São … [+] Paulo, Brazil.
Lions, Vikings and Bears.
Oh my.
Those are the usual suspects the Green Bay Packers need to worry about.
In week 1 of this NFL season, though, the top concerns are crime, pollution and censorship.
The Packers and Philadelphia Eagles meet Friday in São Paulo, Brazil. And the overriding question many players and fans have is, ‘Why?’
“Man, I do not want to go to Brazil, you want to know why? I’m here to tell you why,” Eagles Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay said this week. “They already told us not to leave the hotel. They told us we can’t do too much going on because the crime rate is crazy … and like we’re out of the country.
“So the first thing people think is some terror can possibly happen. I told my family do not come down there because I’m not going to be nowhere to be found. I’m going to be in the hotel room chillin’.”
Packers cornerback Eric Stokes said his team has been given the same message.
“Ah, yeah,” Stokes said Tuesday. “That’s the best thing, just don’t leave the hotel.”
Why would you?
Brazil has the seventh-highest crime rate in the world, and its violent crime rates are extremely concerning. Brazil’s murder rate was 23.6 homicides per 100,000 people in 2020 — and it has been as high as 30.8 in previous years.
Brazil’s greatest problem is organized crime, which has expanded in recent years, and violence between rival groups is a common occurrence. Drug trafficking, corruption, and domestic violence are all pervasive issues in Brazil, as well.
When Green Bay traveled to London in 2022, it was a destination trip for many of its passionate fans that visited the iconic Big Ben clock tower, Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London.
This time, many fans — and the players themselves — might only see their hotel rooms and Corinthians Arena, where the game will be played.
“I’m not doing anything,” Packers wide receiver Christian Watson said. “I don’t plan to leave the hotel or do anything while I’m out there.”
With good reason.
In addition to the rampant crime numbers, Brazil’s air pollution is double the levels considered safe by the World Health Organization (WHO). And while Brazil’s constitution calls for freedom of speech, Alexandre de Moraes — the minister of the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil — banned the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) last week.
The only other countries in the world to have banned X are Russia, China, North Korea, Venezuela, Iran and Pakistan.
It all begs the question why the NFL would climb into bed with Brazil in the first place?
Sure, commissioner Roger Goodell has made it a priority in recent years to grow the game globally. And playing in São Paulo — the fourth-largest city in the world with a population of 11.45 million people — makes sense on paper.
But the bad here outweighs the good for a league that doesn’t need to take senseless risks.
According to the Nielsen ratings, the NFL accounted for 93 of the 100 most-watched TV broadcasts in 2023. Let that sink in for a second: 93 out of 100.
That marked a jump from 82 of the top 100 in 2022 and 72 of the top 100 in 2020.
NFL regular-season games averaged 17.9 million viewers in 2023, up 7% from 2022 and tied for the second highest total since averages were first tracked in 1995. The Super Bowl drew a record 120.3 million viewers last year, a jump of 42.7% since 2000.
Meanwhile, the NFL continues to obliterate the other major sports leagues.
The NBA Finals were down 257% this year from their heyday in 1998. And the average 2024 NBA Finals game in 2024 had just 9.4% of the viewers of this year’s Super Bowl.
Viewership in Major League Baseball is even worse off. The 2023 World Series was down 318.4% from 1995 — the first year after baseball’s strike ended. And the average World Series game last year drew just 9.1 million people — which was 13.2 times fewer viewers than the Super Bowl.
The bottom line is Lord Football has ascended to a level of dominance like never before.
That’s why it was irresponsible and senseless for Goodell to send two of his marquee franchises to Brazil for the first-ever regular season game in South America.
There are plenty of ways to keep growing the Goliath that is the NFL. Traveling to a city where players have been instructed to not exit their hotel rooms is one of the more absurd decisions Goodell has ever made.
“We think this is giving us the ability to access more fans,” Goodell said earlier this year. “Not just here in the States, but on a global basis. And I think it’s going to be a huge hit. We’re excited.”
He might be the only one.