The NFL is entering uncharted territory Friday night with its first-ever game being played in South America between the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles. São Paulo, Brazil is the site for this historic game between two historic franchises.
This is not an average road trip for these two teams. They are from the Northeast and Midwest areas of the United States, respectively, which made for lengthy flights for both teams earlier this week.
Let’s take a look and see just how far São Paulo, Brazil, is from Green Bay and Philadelphia and how long the flights were for the Packers and Eagles this week.
Flight Times From Green Bay and Philadelphia to São Paulo, Brazil
To put into perspective the flight times for both teams, they are both longer than trips to London and Frankfurt, Germany.
London and Frankfurt are the other international cities hosting NFL games this season, but travel to those cities wouldn’t be nearly as long for either the Packers or the Eagles as it was to Brazil.
Air Miles Calculator totaled the miles and flight durations from both Green Bay and Philadelphia, respectively. São Paulo is 5,364 miles from Green Bay, Wisc, which is a 10-hour, 39-minute flight that crosses two time zones.
The distance from Philadelphia to São Paulo is slightly shorter, at 4,734 miles. That flight is nine hours and 27 minutes long and crosses one time zone.
Teams always look at their schedules for cross-country road trips during the season. Those, though, pale in comparison to what the Packers and Eagles are enduring travel-wise in getting to Brazil.
The Packers have road games at the Los Angeles Rams (Week 5) and Seattle Seahawks (Week 15) this season. Neither of those road trips is even a four-hour flight from Green Bay. That means a round-trip from Green Bay to Los Angeles or Seattle and then back to Green Bay would take nearly three fewer hours than a flight from Green Bay to São Paulo.
The Eagles have a game at the Rams in Week 12. That’s a five-hour, two-minute flight from Philadelphia — still barely over half the time a flight from Philadelphia to São Paulo takes.
Both the Packers and Eagles will be on mini bye weeks after playing in Brazil Friday night, and the Eagles don’t play until Monday night in Week 2. That’s crucial because the flights back after the game are going to be a full day’s worth of travel.
The players and coaching staffs on both teams will need the extra rest after the game before turning their attention to preparing for Week 2.
Still, the long flight there, combined with both teams not having played their starters for extended time during the preseason, could result in a defensive battle and low-scoring game Friday night.
Regardless, this is a great opportunity for the NFL to showcase itself for the first time in Brazil and South America.