Chiefs part of latest Week 1 2025 NFL schedule rumor involving an international game and exclusive streaming rights
The 2025 NFL schedule release is near, and the Kansas City Chiefs continue to be at the center of one of Week 1's most exciting rumors. A report from the NFL's annual league meetings first indicated that the Chiefs were being considered for a standalone Week 1 game against the Los Angeles Chargers in São Paulo, Brazil, […]
The 2025 NFL schedule release is near, and the Kansas City Chiefs continue to be at the center of one of Week 1's most exciting rumors.
A report from the NFL's annual league meetings first indicated that the Chiefs were being considered for a standalone Week 1 game against the Los Angeles Chargers in São Paulo, Brazil, which the NFL's broadcasting partners would then bid for. The game would be held on the Friday following the season opener between the Philadelphia Eagles and an opponent yet to be named.
YouTube nearing deal for broadcast rights to Chiefs-Chargers Week 1 game in Brazil.
On Saturday, Front Office Sports' Eric Fisher updated the situation, explaining that the league was nearing an agreement for exclusive broadcast streaming rights with YouTube.
"The league is closing in on an agreement to have the Google-owned YouTube, distributors of the residential version of NFL Sunday Ticket, carry the Sept. 5 game in Brazil involving the Chargers as the home team. The deal, according to sources, will see the opening-week game from São Paulo include the Chiefs, the NFL’s top viewership draw, as the visiting team."
The game would be broadcast for free on YouTube, not the premium YouTube TV subscription service that hosts the NFL's Sunday Ticket platform, giving the league a chance to break its previous streaming records. It'd make a ton of sense to have the Chiefs in that game, given that they've been one of the NFL's biggest draws over the past seven seasons.
"By placing the game for free on YouTube, which boasts more than 2.5 billion monthly active users around the world, the audience is likely to challenge—if not surpass—the league’s streaming record of an average of 24.3 million viewers in the U.S., set last year in the nightcap of a Christmas Day doubleheader on Netflix. Production details for the Brazil game, however, remain unknown, and like other streamers, YouTube does not have the in-house capabilities to produce an NFL broadcast."
This would mark the Chiefs' first international game since they defeated the Miami Dolphins in Frankfurt, Germany, during the 2023 NFL season. It'd mark the fourth international game the team has played since 2015.
This rumored game would essentially mimic the start of the 2024 NFL season. Last year, the Chiefs played in the season opener as the reigning Super Bowl champions, and the Philadelphia Eagles faced off against the Green Bay Packers in Brazil's first-ever NFL regular season game. Ultimately, two of the NFL's biggest broadcast draws, the Chiefs and the Eagles, would again be put front and center.
While the 2025 NFL schedule will not be unveiled until Wednesday, May 14, the NFL will announce its full international games slate on Tuesday, May 13, on "Good Morning Football" on NFL Network. That means we won't have to wait long to find out whether the Chiefs will or won't play the Chargers in Brazil in Week 1.