NFL Game in Brazil Packers, Eagles Key to Growth, Goodell Says

The National Football League (NFL) kicks off its first-ever game in South America on Friday night as the league looks to expand its footprint overseas.

As the NFL enters the Southern Hemisphere, professional football has never been stronger financially. Last season, the league raked in $13 billion in revenue, and the average team is worth about $6.5 billion, according to CNBC’s official NFL team valuations.

But as the league tries to maintain its growth, international markets are a priority.

Ahead of the league’s inaugural game in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Friday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the league aims to become an international sports property. This season, the NFL will play five games abroad, in Europe and South America. By next season, the league will play eight games abroad.

“The reality is when we bring our regular-season style of play here, it creates a whole new environment,” Goodell said. “It creates a spark and everything really seems to take off after that point,” he added.

Goodell said playing games overseas has been a learning process as the league sees how players handle long flights and different time zones.

“When (the players) go back to their hometowns tomorrow, they’ll be in the same time zone and eight days before their next game,” Goodell said. Brazil is an hour ahead of the Eastern Time Zone but is an 11-hour drive away. “It’s all part of learning how many games we can play,” Goodell said.

As the NFL plays in places like London, Germany and Brazil, it not only creates new fans, it also helps expand sponsorship opportunities and deepen the league’s relationships with international media partners.

The league had two sponsorship deals in Germany before playing games there starting in 2022. Today, the NFL has 15 deals.

The league has also allowed teams to build brand awareness and attract fans abroad through its global markets program.

The program, now in its third year, offers teams marketing rights in other countries. This season, 25 franchises are participating in the program in 19 international markets.

Among the deals, the Miami Dolphins have marketing rights in Argentina and Colombia; the Los Angeles Rams have rights in South Korea and Japan; and the Seattle Seahawks have rights in Canada and extend to Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

Goodell also spoke to CNBC about the NFL’s current media rights landscape and said the addition of streaming options has benefited the league and its fans.

The NFL has broadcast deals with Fox, ESPN and Disney’s ABC, NBCUniversal and CBS, in addition to streamers YouTube, Netflix, Amazon and Peacock, all worth an estimated $11.4 billion in 2024. Some games are exclusive to streaming, including Friday’s game in Brazil, which will air on NBC’s Peacock platform.

“The bottom line is you have to go where your fans are and our fans are going to streaming platforms,” he said.

Still, Goodell said 85% of NFL games are still available on television.

“We really believe that our policy is really beneficial for our growth, to support more people watching NFL football and for the enjoyment of fans,” he added.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.