PALM BEACH, Fla. — The NFL’s second game of the 2025 season will be played in São Paulo, Brazil, a Friday night game Sept. 5 that will feature the Los Angeles Chargers as the designated home team.
In the past two days, during the annual league meeting, a familiar Chargers rival has become the favorite to be their opponent on the international stage: the Kansas City Chiefs.
Advertisement
According to multiple league sources, the Chiefs are the No. 1 franchise in consideration by the league to take on the Chargers in the stand-alone game that is up for bid among the league’s broadcasting partners.
The Chargers and the Chiefs, according to sources, are not opposed to the idea of the opening-week AFC West battle. Similar to last year, when the Philadelphia Eagles faced the Green Bay Packers in São Paulo, the game is expected to be televised by a streaming service — Amazon, Disney+, Netflix, Paramount+ or Peacock.
“On playing international games, we’re willing to do it whenever the opportunity presents itself,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said Monday. “We don’t have a lot of control over that, except periodically with whatever the rotation (of teams scheduled to play overseas) of the league is at where we can be the home team.
“We make the league aware every year that we would be delighted to play (an international game), whether as a home team or as an away team. We hope, at some point, we’ll get picked back up.”
boraaa brasil
→ https://t.co/IaguF3CVWe pic.twitter.com/fympPbV8vj
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) February 19, 2025
When it comes to domestic stand-alone games, the Chiefs have requested that the NFL make them a fixture on Christmas Day, according to a league source. The Chiefs, who have played on Christmas Day the past two seasons, want to be a staple on that holiday, similar to the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day.
This year, the NFL will have three games on Christmas Day, the first two streaming on Netflix and the third as part of Amazon Prime’s “Thursday Night Football” package (the holiday falls on a Thursday), an industry source confirmed Tuesday. The news was first reported by John Ourand of Puck.
For a third consecutive year, the Chiefs are expected to be one of the teams to play on Christmas Day, according to a league source. Last year, the Chiefs-Steelers game drew 24.1 million viewers across Netflix and local CBS stations in the participating markets, according to Nielsen.
The NFL is expected to announce its series of seven international games in May, when the entire schedule is revealed.
In less than a decade, the Chiefs have become the NFL’s most prominent franchise in terms of marketing and elevating the league’s TV viewership, boosting the league’s business growth in the United States and around the world. The Chiefs are also the first team in NFL history to reach five Super Bowls in six seasons.
Advertisement
The NFL knows a marquee matchup between the Chargers and Chiefs — showcasing quarterbacks Justin Herbert and Patrick Mahomes, coaches Jim Harbaugh and Andy Reid and Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce — will be quite appetizing for the streaming service that wins the rights to televise the game. Last year, 82 percent of people watching TV in Kansas City on Dec. 8 were watching the Chiefs’ dramatic comeback win over the Chargers, according to NBC Sports.
Ahead of Thanksgiving last year, the NFL shared that the Chiefs were featured in four of the league’s five most-watched games. The NFL also selected the Chiefs for stand-alone games for its newest deep-pocketed partners — Amazon’s Black Friday game (against the Las Vegas Raiders) and one of Netflix’s Christmas games (against the Pittsburgh Steelers). The Chiefs’ win over the Houston Texans in the AFC divisional round in January produced record viewership for ESPN as the 32.7 million viewers made it the most-watched NFL game in the network’s history.
“They’re a heavy request from our network partners,” Mike North, the NFL’s vice president of broadcast planning, told The Athletic in November 2023. “More than anything, a testament to their success and their star power.”
🚨NFL Viewership🚨
*17.5 million avg. viewers per game — highest avg. through Week 11 since 2015
*NFL games rank as 47 of the top 50 shows on TV since start of 2024 season
*Chiefs-Bills avg. 31.2 million viewers pic.twitter.com/abnuZjwavn
— NFL Media (@NFLMedia) November 20, 2024
If it were up to Hunt, he would have the Chiefs play an international game and a holiday game every season to help grow the franchise’s brand.
On Monday, Hunt was asked a question that made him chuckle: How do you feel about the Chiefs being the new “America’s Team”?
“Well, our goal is to be the world’s team,” Hunt said. “That starts with being one of the top teams here in the United States. It’s a credit to our players, some of the personalities that we have on the team and certainly the success we’ve had the last six years. Our TV ratings have been very high whenever we play.
“We also have some very special fans (of Taylor Swift, who is dating Kelce) who help drive those numbers as well.”
(Photo of Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert: Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
About the author
2025 NFL Draft: Could Browns taking Shedeur Sanders after Dillon Gabriel pan out? Here’s the upside on Cleveland’s surprise strategy
Less than 24 hours after publicly endorsing the talents of Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry faced the media with a similar task Saturday afternoon.Describing another quarterback’s fit and value at the draft spot?AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDrafting high-profile Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders 50 picks after selecting Gabriel warranted explanation.“We talk oftentimes about quarterback being the most important position in the sport,” Berry said. “It wasn’t necessarily the plan going into the weekend to select two quarterbacks, but as we talk about, we do believe in best player available, we do believe position value, and we didn’t necessarily expect him to be available in the fifth round.“It got to a point where he was probably mispriced relative to the draft.”The Browns are taking two swings at rookie quarterbacks in Colorado's Shedeur Sanders and Oregon's Dillon Gabriel. (Taylor Wilhelm/Yahoo Sports)Selecting Sanders […]
Teoscar Hernández hits HR in third consecutive game to extend Dodgers’ lead against Marlins
Major League Baseball Video Details Teoscar Hernández hit a home run in third consecutive game that extended the Los Angeles Dodgers' lead to 5-0 against the Miami Marlins. 6 MINS AGO・Major League Baseball・0:30
The Panthers, the bad boys of the NHL, are ‘very comfortable with who they are’
SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers are not only the resident bad boys of the National Hockey League, but they’re also the defending Stanley Cup champions.They illustrated both facts on Monday.Florida threw a couple of flagrantly illegal hits, killed a five-minute major penalty while trailing in the third period, overcame the sobering ruling of a game-tying call being overruled by an offside challenge, tied the game anyway and used a dramatic spurt to push the Lightning to the brink in a 4-2 victory.AdvertisementEverything about this night was a microcosm of why the Panthers have owned the Eastern Conference for the past three seasons and why they appear to have surpassed their bitter rivals for potentially long-term state bragging rights. One more win will do it.This one didn’t feel like it was going to be a Panthers’ win, but then their […]
Cavaliers crush Heat in most lopsided series in NBA playoff history: Historic sweep by the numbers
Getty Images Sometimes, series that end in four games can be closer and more competitive than the word "sweep" suggests. The Cleveland Cavaliers' sweep of the Miami Heat, which concluded with a 138-83 rout on Monday, was not one of those series.Cleveland entered Monday's Game 4 having outscored Miami by 24.9 points per 100 possessions in the first three games of the series. The team had stomped the Heat in Game 3 on Saturday, leading by as many as 40 points in a 124-87 rout. And it proceeded to crush them even more viciously on Monday.The final margin of victory was 55 points, but you should know that the Cavaliers had a 70-25 lead late in the second quarter. You should know that the Cavs led by as many as 60 points in the fourth. They finished the series having […]
WATCH: Tristan Thompson consoles Kevin Love before Cavaliers-Heat Game 4 following his father’s death
Getty Images Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson may have been on opposite sides of Monday night's game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Miami Heat, but both showed a relationship that transcends the game of basketball. Prior to the tipoff of an eventual 138-83 Cleveland win to finish off a sweep, Thompson was seen consoling Love, who announced his father, Stan, died Sunday at 76 years old.Thompson and Love were teammates in Cleveland for six seasons from 2014-20, a span that included the Cavaliers winning the 2016 NBA championship. They developed a deep friendship during that time together, and it showed Monday."That's my brother, man," Love said back in 2020. "I would always go to war with him. I would run through a wall for him. He's the best. Just the type of guy he is, he's a lifelong friend of mine."Here's a […]
NBA playoffs: Draymond Green narrowly avoids ejection after heated first half with Rockets in Game 4
Draymond Green got into a bit of trouble early on Monday night at the Chase Center.Though he managed to avoid an ejection in the first half of the Golden State Warriors’ Game 4 matchup with the Houston Rockets, he did so just barely after getting into back-to-back altercations.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThings popped off in the first half after Green, Stephen Curry and Dillon Brooks got into an incident that felt like it was a few games in the making.After Green set a hard screen on Amen Thompson, Brooks hip-checked Curry and sent him down to the floor. Curry, taunting a bit, threw up two fingers at Brooks after he was called for a foul. Brooks then tried to grab the ball out of Curry’s hands, which sparked the incident and sent plenty of people rushing in to try and break it all up.In […]
Related
2025 NFL Draft: Could Browns taking Shedeur Sanders after Dillon Gabriel pan out? Here’s the upside on Cleveland’s surprise strategy
Less than 24 hours after publicly endorsing the talents of Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry faced the media with a similar task Saturday afternoon.Describing another quarterback’s fit and value at the draft spot?AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDrafting high-profile Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders 50 picks after selecting Gabriel warranted explanation.“We talk oftentimes about quarterback being the most important position in the sport,” Berry said. “It wasn’t necessarily the plan going into the weekend to select two quarterbacks, but as we talk about, we do believe in best player available, we do believe position value, and we didn’t necessarily expect him to be available in the fifth round.“It got to a point where he was probably mispriced relative to the draft.”The Browns are taking two swings at rookie quarterbacks in Colorado's Shedeur Sanders and Oregon's Dillon Gabriel. (Taylor Wilhelm/Yahoo Sports)Selecting Sanders […]
Teoscar Hernández hits HR in third consecutive game to extend Dodgers’ lead against Marlins
Major League Baseball Video Details Teoscar Hernández hit a home run in third consecutive game that extended the Los Angeles Dodgers' lead to 5-0 against the Miami Marlins. 6 MINS AGO・Major League Baseball・0:30
The Panthers, the bad boys of the NHL, are ‘very comfortable with who they are’
SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers are not only the resident bad boys of the National Hockey League, but they’re also the defending Stanley Cup champions.They illustrated both facts on Monday.Florida threw a couple of flagrantly illegal hits, killed a five-minute major penalty while trailing in the third period, overcame the sobering ruling of a game-tying call being overruled by an offside challenge, tied the game anyway and used a dramatic spurt to push the Lightning to the brink in a 4-2 victory.AdvertisementEverything about this night was a microcosm of why the Panthers have owned the Eastern Conference for the past three seasons and why they appear to have surpassed their bitter rivals for potentially long-term state bragging rights. One more win will do it.This one didn’t feel like it was going to be a Panthers’ win, but then their […]
Cavaliers crush Heat in most lopsided series in NBA playoff history: Historic sweep by the numbers
Getty Images Sometimes, series that end in four games can be closer and more competitive than the word "sweep" suggests. The Cleveland Cavaliers' sweep of the Miami Heat, which concluded with a 138-83 rout on Monday, was not one of those series.Cleveland entered Monday's Game 4 having outscored Miami by 24.9 points per 100 possessions in the first three games of the series. The team had stomped the Heat in Game 3 on Saturday, leading by as many as 40 points in a 124-87 rout. And it proceeded to crush them even more viciously on Monday.The final margin of victory was 55 points, but you should know that the Cavaliers had a 70-25 lead late in the second quarter. You should know that the Cavs led by as many as 60 points in the fourth. They finished the series having […]
WATCH: Tristan Thompson consoles Kevin Love before Cavaliers-Heat Game 4 following his father’s death
Getty Images Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson may have been on opposite sides of Monday night's game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Miami Heat, but both showed a relationship that transcends the game of basketball. Prior to the tipoff of an eventual 138-83 Cleveland win to finish off a sweep, Thompson was seen consoling Love, who announced his father, Stan, died Sunday at 76 years old.Thompson and Love were teammates in Cleveland for six seasons from 2014-20, a span that included the Cavaliers winning the 2016 NBA championship. They developed a deep friendship during that time together, and it showed Monday."That's my brother, man," Love said back in 2020. "I would always go to war with him. I would run through a wall for him. He's the best. Just the type of guy he is, he's a lifelong friend of mine."Here's a […]
NBA playoffs: Draymond Green narrowly avoids ejection after heated first half with Rockets in Game 4
Draymond Green got into a bit of trouble early on Monday night at the Chase Center.Though he managed to avoid an ejection in the first half of the Golden State Warriors’ Game 4 matchup with the Houston Rockets, he did so just barely after getting into back-to-back altercations.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThings popped off in the first half after Green, Stephen Curry and Dillon Brooks got into an incident that felt like it was a few games in the making.After Green set a hard screen on Amen Thompson, Brooks hip-checked Curry and sent him down to the floor. Curry, taunting a bit, threw up two fingers at Brooks after he was called for a foul. Brooks then tried to grab the ball out of Curry’s hands, which sparked the incident and sent plenty of people rushing in to try and break it all up.In […]
Be the first to leave a comment