Brazil, Stop Importing the NFL. Start Exporting Brazilian Football.
I have a proposal for Brazil:
Stop hosting an NFL game every year.
Seriously. Enough.
I understand why the NFL wants Brazil. Brazil is enormous. São Paulo is enormous. Brazilians love sports, spectacle, jerseys, rivalries and events. Put an NFL game in a major Brazilian stadium, market it correctly, and people will show up.
Great.
But why exactly is Brazil helping America export American football when Brazil possesses one of the greatest sporting products on Earth?
We have this completely backwards.
Instead of asking how many NFL games Brazil can bring to São Paulo, the CBF and Brazilian clubs should be asking:
How many Brazilian games can we bring to the United States?
Give me Corinthians vs. Palmeiras in New York.
Give me Flamengo vs. Corinthians in Miami.
Give me Santos vs. São Paulo in Orlando.
Give me Grêmio vs. Internacional somewhere with 70,000 seats.
Give me Flamengo vs. Vasco.
Give me the Brasileirão in America.
Not some watered-down exhibition where half the starters stay home, either. I mean real matches. Matches that count.
Because if we are going to internationalize a sport, I would much rather see Brazil exporting football than importing American football.
And Yes, Part of My Problem Pop Is the Sport Itself
I enjoy watching American football.
On television, the NFL is an incredible entertainment product. The strategy is fascinating. The production is spectacular. The Super Bowl is practically its own American holiday.
But would I look at a Brazilian eight-year-old and say, You know what Brazil needs more of? Kids playing tackle football?
Absolutely not.
The health concerns surrounding repeated collisions in American football aren’t imaginary. The American Academy of Pediatrics has specifically addressed head and neck injuries in youth football and noted that eliminating tackling would likely reduce overall injuries, severe injuries, catastrophic injuries and concussions. (American Academy of Pediatrics)
And yes, soccer has concussions. Soccer has knee injuries. Soccer has plenty of problems. No serious argument should pretend otherwise.
But what exactly are we gaining culturally by encouraging another generation of Brazilian children toward a collision sport?
Teamwork?
Soccer teaches that.
Discipline?
Soccer teaches that.
Fitness?
Obviously.
Strategy? Leadership? Competition? Handling defeat? Sacrificing individual glory for a team?
We already have a game capable of teaching every one of those things.
And it requires a ball and some open space.
Brazil doesn’t need to import another sporting culture to teach Brazilian children how to compete.
We might be the country least in need of that lesson.
America, Meanwhile, Could Use More Brazilian Football
This is where the idea becomes much more interesting.
Don’t treat the United States merely as somewhere Brazilian clubs visit for a preseason tournament.
Treat it as a market.
There are spectacular stadiums throughout the United States. There are enormous Brazilian, Latin American and international communities. There is a generation of American kids growing up with soccer in a way their parents didn’t.
So bring them the real thing.
Imagine a legitimate Brasileirão weekend in America.
Saturday afternoon:
Palmeiras vs. Santos.
Saturday night:
Flamengo vs. Vasco.
Sunday:
Corinthians vs. São Paulo.
Now we’re talking.
And imagine what happens around it.
Brazilian restaurants participate. Supporters’ groups organize. Sponsors activate. Brazilian artists perform. Tourism boards promote Brazil. Clubs sell merchandise. Youth academies hold clinics. Former players appear. American kids meet Brazilian players they’ve only seen online.
Suddenly we’re not exporting 90 minutes of soccer.
We’re exporting Brazil.
Stop Thinking Europe Is the Only Model
This is another thing that drives me crazy.
Every conversation about growing soccer in America eventually becomes:
How do we get Manchester City here?
How do we get Real Madrid?
Barcelona?
Liverpool?
Bayern?
Wonderful clubs.
Bring them too.
But why have we collectively decided that international soccer in the United States has to mean European soccer?
Brazil has Corinthians.
Brazil has Flamengo.
Brazil has Palmeiras.
Brazil has São Paulo.
Brazil has Santos.
Brazil has Vasco, Grêmio, Internacional, Atlético Mineiro, Cruzeiro, Fluminense and Botafogo.
These aren’t little clubs looking for somebody to discover them.
These are institutions with generations of history, enormous supporter cultures and rivalries that existed long before somebody invented the phrase “global sports property.”
And we already know Brazilian club football can attract serious crowds. Corinthians, for example, drew 44,588 for a Brasileirão match at Neo Química Arena just this month. (UOL)
The product exists.
The culture exists.
The stories exist.
What is missing is the ambition to distribute them differently.
Make the CBF Think Like an Export Organization
This is where I think the CBF should become much more aggressive.
Brazilian football shouldn’t merely organize Brazilian football inside Brazil.
It should sell Brazilian football to the world.
Pick several strategically important league matches every year and play them abroad.
New York/New Jersey.
Miami.
Orlando.
Boston.
Los Angeles.
Maybe Texas.
Choose markets according to Brazilian population, soccer culture, sponsorship opportunities and stadium economics.
Then rotate the clubs.
Don’t send Flamengo every single year simply because Flamengo is enormous. Build the entire Brazilian league as an international property.
Let an American kid discover Corinthians because Corinthians happened to play in his city.
Let another discover Santos and then learn why Pelé matters.
Let someone see Palmeiras and Corinthians play and spend the next three hours asking why these people apparently hate each other.
That’s how culture spreads.
And Here’s the Funny Part
Everybody might actually be happier.
The NFL gets to remain the magnificent television spectacle that it is.
Brazilian kids don’t need another institutional push toward tackle football.
Brazilian clubs get access to American sponsorship dollars, ticket buyers and future supporters.
Brazilian immigrants get something extraordinary: a meaningful piece of home arriving in their adopted country.
American soccer fans get something besides another European preseason friendly.
And Brazil begins treating its football not merely as domestic entertainment but as something the country can export.
Because Brazil has spent decades exporting its best players.
Maybe it’s time we started exporting the games too.
The United States sends Brazil an NFL game.
Fine.
Thank you.
We tried it.
It was fun.
Now let’s reverse the airplane.
Put Corinthians, Flamengo, Palmeiras, Santos, São Paulo and the rest of them on it.
Bring them north.
Bring the rivalries.
Bring the supporters.
Bring the songs.
Bring the history.
Bring the beautiful game.
America has plenty of football already.
What it could use is a little more futebol.
