🏈 The Super Bowl ... in Brazil?

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Hello! Welcome back to the Brazil Sports newsletter, brought to you by The Brazilian Report. This week, Brazil’s American football fanbase keeps on growing, with São Paulo hosting a major Super Bowl party this weekend, and the city set to host more NFL games in the coming years.

If you have any questions about this newsletter, or topics you’d like to see covered in future issues, send me an email at [email protected]

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Super Bowl party marks the NFL’s major rise in Brazil

When the Philadelphia Eagles take to the field against the Kansas City Chiefs in this Sunday’s Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, thousands of NFL fans will be gathered in a large event space to the west of São Paulo to watch the action, cheering on their favorite players and teams, in what will be the biggest ever NFL event held outside of the United States.

Spanning three days, NFL in Brasa expects to welcome more than 10,000 people to the ARCA events center in Brazil’s biggest city, ready to soak in the atmosphere around American football’s biggest game.

The concept, explains Pedro Rego Monteiro, CEO of Effect Sport, is to recreate a “Brazilianized version” of a typical American tailgate party, with food, drinks, stands, meet-and-greets and other activities. The match itself will be shown on big screens, with exclusive live commentary throughout.

Effect Sport has represented the NFL in Brazil since 2015 — and has been the driving force behind the two previous editions of NFL in Brasa. “It’s designed for the whole family to enjoy. What we saw the most in previous editions were parents and children enjoying themselves by getting involved in the activities, learning about the sport and making lasting memories,” Monteiro told The Brazilian Report.

“Football” in the Land of Football

While undoubtedly still far behind association football in the country’s estimations, American football has enjoyed dizzying growth in popularity around Brazil over the last decade.

A survey released last year by sports marketing research firm Ibope Repucom showed that a stunning 35% of respondents were either “interested” or “very interested” in the sport. Translated into the entire population, that would mean 41 million American football fans in Brazil, 310% more than 10 years prior. It would be as if the entire population of Australia started following the NFL in the space of a decade.

For years, Brazil has consolidated itself as the NFL’s biggest market outside North America. “Before, we had to explain to brands what the NFL was,” recalled Monteiro. “Not anymore,” he said, listing off this year’s sponsors for NFL in Brasa, which include brokerage firm XP Investimentos and food giants Perdigão and Pizza Hut. 

And this burgeoning fanbase was rewarded last year with the first regular season NFL match held in Brazil, when the Philadelphia Eagles came from behind to beat the Green Bay Packers at the Neo Química Arena in São Paulo.

The event was a success, with official figures from the NFL and São Paulo’s tourism board SPTuris concluding that the match generated USD 61.9 million in economic activity and directly and indirectly employed 12,518 people.

Such a success that the league has been keen to bring its show back to Brazil’s biggest city for the 2025 season. Sports newspaper Lance reported that the NFL will return to São Paulo in September and that the Los Angeles Chargers will be the home team. The Brazilian Report approached SPTuris and the NFL for confirmation, but both were unavailable for comment.

One of the Chargers’ home games in 2025 will be against the Philadelphia Eagles, which, if held in Brazil, would see the team play here two years in a row — and could spark the beginning of an Eagles-São Paulo partnership, similar to what the Jacksonville Jaguars enjoy in London.

What is clear, however, is that São Paulo is looking to make the NFL link a long-term arrangement. Gustavo Pires, SPTuris president, has been keen on tying the league down to a multi-year contract, ensuring regular season matches in Brazil for the next four or five years.

There are even whispers of attempts to hold more than one match a season in Brazil, with Rio de Janeiro a potential second destination for the NFL.

The Brazilian Football League?

Brazil even has a burgeoning scene for playing American football, with its own national championship growing year after year. The 2024 men’s edition included 12 clubs, spread across six Brazilian states, culminating in the Guarulhos Rhynos winning their first national trophy, beating Spartans Football in December’s final.

Catullo Góes, the Rhynos’ 31-year-old quarterback and the league’s MVP, told The Brazilian Report that Brazil’s domestic American football scene has come on “light years” since he first donned his helmet and shoulder pads in 2009.

“When I started playing, the sport basically didn’t exist in Brazil, but now we’ve got lots of well-equipped teams, state championships, national championships, games being televised … The growth has been astonishing.”

The sport is still in an embryonic stage with regard to its structural organization, but players are paid to play, and it is not unheard of (though it remains uncommon) to have athletes in Brazil’s American football league making enough money to quit their day jobs and dedicate themselves to the sport full time.

But American football in Brazil is bound to continue its growth in the coming years, not least because of the inclusion of flag football at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, a topic for a future Brazil Sports newsletter.

Other stories we’re following

🔙 Neymar made his debut on his return to Santos, playing 45 minutes in front of a packed Vila Belmiro stadium as his side drew 1-1 with Botafogo-SP. The 33-year-old hardly set the heather alight and looked less than match fit but has promised to be up to speed within “four or five games.”

📺 Brazil’s biggest football clubs reached a deal to sell the broadcasting rights to the Brazilian championship for the next five years for nearly BRL 3 billion (USD 520 million) total.

🇫🇷 In a decision published by UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body, Botafogo’s American owner, John Textor, is quoted as saying he is considering using the Brazilian club’s prize money for winning last season’s Copa Libertadores to improve the financial situation of French club Lyon, which he also owns.

🚗 NASCAR is reportedly keen on bringing its season-opening Cook Out Clash event to Brazil in 2026, amid exploring the possibility of holding the race outside the US for the first time.