NFL Rio Game Brings Cowboys and Ravens to Brazil’s Maracanã on 27 September 2026
BRAZIL · SPORT
Key Facts
- —What happens The Dallas Cowboys host the Baltimore Ravens at the Maracanã on Sunday 27 September 2026.
- —Kick-off The game starts at 5:25 p.m. Brasília time, in Week 3 of the NFL regular season.
- —Halftime Brazilian DJ Pedro Sampaio and Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin perform at halftime.
- —Tickets Listed prices run from R$427 to R$6,187, roughly US$83 to US$1,205.
- —How to watch Brazilian coverage runs on sportv, ge tv, ge.globo and TV Globo.
The NFL Rio Game is the league’s first regular-season fixture in Rio de Janeiro. Here is what is confirmed, and what it costs.
What Is Confirmed
The National Football League plays its first regular-season game in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday 27 September 2026. The Dallas Cowboys host the Baltimore Ravens at the Maracanã, Brazil’s best-known stadium.
Kick-off is at 5:25 p.m. Brasília time. The NFL lists the fixture in Week 3 of its regular season. The league published the date, the venue and the broadcast arrangements itself.
The designated home team is Dallas, even though the game is played abroad. That is standard practice for the league’s international fixtures. It decides which side gives up a home date, and here that side is the Cowboys.
The Maracanã normally hosts football, in the sense the rest of the world uses the word. For this fixture the pitch is re-marked to American football dimensions. The stadium seats about 78,000 for football, and the conversion trims that figure.
Where This Sits in the League’s Long Push South
This is not the league’s first game in Brazil. The NFL has staged regular-season fixtures in São Paulo in recent seasons. Rio is the next step rather than a departure.
The pattern is familiar from other sports. A league tests a market with one fixture, measures the response, and then decides whether to return.
For Rio the question is repeat business rather than novelty. A single sold-out game proves curiosity. A second and a third prove a market.
The same logic shaped the league’s expansion into London and Mexico City over two decades. Neither happened in one season. Neither was decided by the first crowd.
Brazil also tests something the league cannot buy, which is habit. Football in the Brazilian sense already owns the weekend. The NFL is asking for a share of that weekend rather than a replacement.
Tickets, Times and Coverage
Listed ticket prices run from R$427 to R$6,187. At 5.14 reais to the dollar, published by open.er-api.com on 18 September 2026, that is roughly US$83 to US$1,205.
The spread is wide because the upper tiers include hospitality. The entry price is the figure most residents will care about.
Brazilian broadcast coverage runs on sportv, ge tv and ge.globo. TV Globo carries the game as well, including the halftime show.
The halftime performers are the Brazilian DJ Pedro Sampaio and the Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin. Both were confirmed by the league and reported in the United States and in Brazil.
Kick-off at 5:25 p.m. in Rio is early evening locally. For viewers in Europe it falls late at night. On the United States east coast it is mid-afternoon.
Anyone watching from outside Brazil should check the rights holder in their own market. International coverage of NFL fixtures is sold country by country, and the Brazilian feed is not available everywhere.
What It Means If You Live Here
For foreign residents in Brazil, the practical value is access. A fixture of this kind normally requires a long flight and a hotel. This one does not.
The Maracanã sits in the north of the city and is served by rail and metro connections. Match-day crowds at that stadium are routine, and the transport pattern is well established.
Anyone planning to attend should treat it as a full afternoon and evening rather than a two-hour outing. Stadium access at the Maracanã is staged, and entry closes well before kick-off.
Bag rules are stricter for this fixture than for an ordinary league match. Reading the published list on the day tickets are bought is easier than arguing at the gate.
The wider point is about what Rio is being sold. A one-off international fixture tests the city’s event capacity as much as local appetite for the sport.
What Is Not Yet Settled
The league has not said whether Rio will host again. That decision usually follows the season rather than the game.
Ticket availability at the entry price also changes over time. Resale listings do not reflect the original tiers. The figures above are the published range, not a guarantee of what is still on sale.
The league’s full 2027 international schedule has not been published either. Whether Rio appears on it will be known later in the cycle.
For residents the sensible approach is to treat the fixture as what it is. It is one confirmed evening at a stadium with a long history, not a verdict on anything larger.
Sources
- NFL.com — Onde assistir ao NFL Rio Game
- The Dallas Morning News — Ricky Martin and Pedro Sampaio on the halftime show
Frequently Asked Questions
When does the NFL Rio Game kick off?
Kick-off is at 5:25 p.m. Brasília time on Sunday 27 September 2026, in Week 3 of the NFL regular season.
Where is the NFL Rio Game played?
At the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro. The Dallas Cowboys are the designated home team and the Baltimore Ravens are the visitors.
Who performs at halftime?
The Brazilian DJ Pedro Sampaio and the Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin perform the halftime show.
How much do tickets cost and where can I watch?
Listed prices run from R$427 to R$6,187, about US$83 to US$1,205. Brazilian coverage runs on sportv, ge tv, ge.globo and TV Globo.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error
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