The NFL’s first international game of the season kicks off Friday night at Corinthians Arena in São Paulo, Brazil. The Kansas City Chiefs are the visiting team, taking on the “home team” Los Angeles Chargers in the AFC West clash. But there’s already drama before the game’s even begun.
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This is the second straight year that the NFL has held a game in Brazil, but there appears to be one difference this year. In any NFL regular-season game, the road team doesn’t get its logo in an end zone. Looking at last year’s game in Brazil between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers, only the former, which was the designated home team, had its logo in the end zone.
That is not the case for this year’s game, as this field looks more like it’s set up for the Super Bowl than a Week 1 matchup. In last year’s game, the Eagles got the true home team treatment with both end zones covered in Philly’s traditional green, white and black. Chargers fans took notice on social media after Kay Adams posted a shot of the field for Friday’s game.
On the surface, this might look like favoritism from the NFL, especially to Chargers fans. However, there is a good explanation — the NFL changed its protocol in the offseason for international games, and now both teams will have a logo in an end zone.
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“New for this year, the logos or marks of both teams will appear in their respective end zones of all NFL international games,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy wrote in an email, per The Athletic. “It’s a fun element to further enhance the atmosphere as a big event and create a special look and feel for international games.
“As always at international games, all of the gameday presentation and rituals of the designated team will be featured like a home game — in this case, the Chargers.”
Kansas City is looking to extend its winning streak over LA to eight on Friday in Brazil, and bounce back from its failed three-peat attempt in last year’s Super Bowl. The Chargers haven’t beaten the Chiefs since Week 3 of the 2021 season.