Chiefs reportedly being considered as opponent for game in South America in 2025
For the first time since 2022, the NFL won’t start the season with a Chiefs game.
The Chiefs had played in the NFL Kickoff Game in the previous two years because they were the defending Super Bowl champions.
However, the Chiefs could play in the second game of the 2025 season.
The Los Angeles Chargers previously were announced as the home team for a game on the first Friday of the season in São Paulo, Brazil. It would be the day after the NFL Kickoff Game.
This is from a story in the Athletic: “According to multiple league sources, the Chiefs are the No. 1 franchise in consideration by the league to take on the Chargers in the standalone game that is up for bid among the league’s broadcasting partners.”
Ahead of Super Bowl LIX, Chiefs owner and CEO Clark Hunt expressed an interest in playing overseas as an opponent.
“I certainly hope at some point we get to be the visiting team for one of the international games,” Hunt said. “That’s something that the team we’re playing will have to approve, because they have the ability to protect a game or two that they get to keep at home. And at this point everybody wants to keep our games at home because they’re high-demand games.”
However, the Chiefs’ previous games against the Chargers at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles have been full of Kansas City fans. Perhaps that’s why the Chargers wouldn’t mind facing the Chiefs in South America.
The Eagles and Packers played last season in São Paulo and the game was only available on Amazon Prime and YouTube. Something similar will happen this year. According to The Athletic, the Chargers game “is expected to be televised by a streaming service — Amazon, Disney+, Netflix, Paramount+ or Peacock.”
If the Chiefs are chosen, however, the game in Brazil would air on a local KC network, too.
Whether or not the Chiefs will face the Chargers won’t be known until the NFL schedule is released, which is expected to be next month. But the Athletic story says the AFC West rivals are both open to facing off in Brazil.
The Chiefs last played an international game in 2023 when they beat the Dolphins in Frankfurt, Germany.
At the NFL meetings this week in West Palm Beach, Florida, Hunt was asked by The Star about the Chiefs’ interest in future international games.
“As a general thought process on playing international games, we’re willing to do it whenever the opportunity presents itself,” Hunt said. “And we don’t have a lot of control over that, except periodically, whatever the rotation of the league is, whether it’s four or six years where we can be the home team. But we make the league office aware every year that we would be delighted to play, whether it’s as a home team or as an away team. And we hope at some point we’ll get picked back up in that.”
Includes reporting from The Star’s Jesse Newell
This story was originally published April 2, 2025 at 9:09 AM.
