Chiefs the favorite to face the Chargers in Brazil, request Christmas Day spotlight
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.
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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.
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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)
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