If you want to watch the NFL’s first-ever regular season game in South America during the 2024 season, you’ll need a subscription to Peacock. On Tuesday, the NFL announced that its Week 1 game in São Paulo, Brazil on Friday, September 6 will stream exclusively on Peacock.
This is the third time that the NFL has asked its fans to use the NBCUniversal streaming service in order to watch a game. Last December, the Buffalo Bills and the Los Angeles Chargers faced off in the Peacock Holiday Exclusive near the end of the 2023 regular season. Then, in January, Peacock streamed the AFC Wild Card game between the Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs, which was reportedly “the most-streamed live event in U.S. history.”
The Philadelphia Eagles will be playing in the game in Brazil, but their opponent has yet to be announced. If you don’t have Peacock, the only other ways to watch the game are on over-the-air broadcast TV in the local markets of the competing teams or on mobile on NFL+.
The NFL also announced that in addition to being the home of Thursday Night Football again in 2024, Prime Video will exclusively stream a wild-card game during the playoffs. All told, that will add up to 18 NFL games locked behind streaming services next season.
“As media consumption habits evolve, the NFL continues to work with our partners to put our games on digital platforms where our fans are increasingly spending their time,” said the NFL’s executive VP of media distribution, Hans Schroeder. “The viewership success of both Thursday Night Football on Prime Video and the historic Wild Card game on Peacock last season are strong indicators our streaming distribution is resonating with our fans.”
That’s certainly one theory! Another is that fans are begrudgingly paying for whatever they need to in order to watch their favorite teams play. Whatever the case, it’s clear that these streaming exclusive NFL games aren’t going anywhere.