The NFL’s latest international showcase is heading to a place that has never hosted a regular-season game before, but the field conditions in Rio de Janeiro are already stealing some of the spotlight.
Baltimore and Dallas will meet Sunday at Maracanã Stadium in the first-ever NFL game in Rio de Janeiro. The league locked in the matchup in the spring after months of planning, and CBS and Paramount+ will carry it on September 27 at 4:25 p.m. ET.
The problem is the grass.
Heavy rain, brutal heat and a crowded soccer calendar have left the surface in rough condition, and the NFL is moving forward with the game anyway. Flamengo goalkeeper Agustín Rossi didn’t sugarcoat it: “You don’t even need to talk about the field, it’s there for everyone to see,” he said, with both penalty areas showing visible damage, according to Yahoo Sports.
Midfielder Giorgian De Arrascaeta was just as direct. “The field keeps getting worse.
It’s getting harder and harder to control the ball,” he said.
Stadium officials have blamed the damage on the weather and the packed schedule, and the concern goes beyond appearance. An earlier report on the pitch raised the same injury worries now hanging over Lamar Jackson and CeeDee Lamb. Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio has already noted that the NFL expects the field to look rough on the CBS broadcast even if it plays better than it appears.
Florio’s view is that the league’s international push matters more than how the turf looks on television. He has also pointed out that getting early access to the field will be crucial, since that gives Ravens and Cowboys players time to make the right footwear decisions before kickoff.
Brazil has already shown how messy these games can get. When the Eagles and Packers opened the 2024 season at Arena Corinthians in São Paulo, the slick turf created plenty of slipping and sliding.
Saquon Barkley lost five yards on his first carry before later scoring twice, and Jordan Love nearly threw an interception after losing his footing while trying to avoid a sack. Former NFL defensive end J.J.
Watt later said the issue was simple: soccer fields are built for speed and agility, not for NFL-sized players making hard cuts. The league spent roughly $1 million to upgrade that surface before the 2024 opener, and it had all summer to do it.
This time, the NFL has less than a week before kickoff to deal with a field that two soccer clubs still need to use first.
On the field, both teams arrive in Rio with 1-1 records. Baltimore opened with a 41-23 road win over the Colts under new head coach Jesse Minter, but that game came with a cost.
Rookie receiver Ja’Kobi Lane suffered a wrist injury that will keep him out for weeks, and Zay Flowers also left with a hamstring issue. The Ravens then blew a 14-3 lead in Week 2 and fell 24-17 to the Saints at home.
Dallas has taken a similar path. The Cowboys lost their opener 28-20 to the Giants, then answered with a 37-20 win over Washington to even their record. Neither team has looked especially crisp through two games, which makes the surface in Rio another variable in a matchup that already carries plenty of uncertainty.
The NFL’s global expansion keeps moving ahead, even when the logistics lag behind. The Rams’ trip to Melbourne for the league’s first Australian game drew criticism over stadium sightlines, another reminder that the international push is outrunning the setup around it.
For now, Baltimore and Dallas are headed to Rio to play on a field that looked far from ready at the start of the week.
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