Next year, the NFL will play a regular-season game for the first time in Brazil. That game could happen in the first week of the season.
Peter King explained in his latest edition of Football Morning in America that the league currently is considering playing the Brazil game in Week 1.
It could be part of a doubleheader for the first game of the year, or it could be a standalone game on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday of the NFL’s 2024 kickoff weekend.
The calendar gives the NFL an opportunity to televise Friday night or Saturday games on the first week of the 2024 season, since the Sports Broadcasting Act doesn’t restrict such broadcasts until the second Friday of September. When September 1 lands on a Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, the NFL’s post-Labor Day kickoff weekend may include Friday night and/or Saturday games. (The NFL agreed to that limitation in exchange for the broadcast antitrust exemption, which allows the NFL to sell TV rights as a league and not on a team-by-team basis.)
The Dolphins, as King notes, make sense to play in the game. They’re the only team to which Brazil has been assigned as an international market. With only eight home games in 2024, the Dolphins would have to play only seven traditional home games — unless the Dolphins are the road team for a Brazil game hosted by an NFC team.
Playing the game on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday would give the teams a little extra time to prepare for Week 2. Especially if the two teams end up being part of a Week 2 Monday night doubleheader.
