Fans are already bracing for the first NFL regular-season game ever played in Rio de Janeiro after leaked footage of Maracanã Stadium’s field sparked a fresh wave of concern before Cowboys-Ravens.
The matchup itself has plenty attached to it: Dallas and Baltimore both come in at 1-1, and Lamar Jackson has already poked at the Cowboys’ “America’s Team” label by joking that Sunday’s game will technically be played in another country. But once close-up video of the surface started circulating, that storyline took a back seat.
The footage shows torn-up, discolored sections across the field, with visible seams running through areas where the turf appears to be splitting apart. The reaction was immediate.
“Keep taking games out of the country @NFL. I won’t be watching our games being played outside our country!!
Looks like I might be seeing some injury highlights from this mess though!!!” one fan wrote in response.
The video also revived concerns that had already been raised by leaked photos showing the field looking rough. NFLPA executive director J.C. Tretter has had experts monitoring the surface for days alongside the league, while NFL field director Nick Pappas has pointed to unusually heavy rainfall over the past six weeks as the main issue.
“We’ve got to have plans in place to ensure that you can mitigate the weather the best you can and, right now, we feel we’re in a good spot,” Pappas said.
Crews have reinforced the turf with a GrassMaster Stitch Machine, a process meant to add stability and traction before kickoff. Even with that work underway, the field has kept drawing criticism.
One fan, believed to be Brazilian, pushed back on the outrage by arguing the stadium hosts more than seventy games a year and that the pitch has degraded because of El Niño and continuous rain in Rio. “For all the ignorant haters commenting.
Maracanã stadium hosts more than seventy games a year. Because of El Niño and the continuous rain in Rio, the pitch has degraded more than expected.
Your game should have been sent elsewhere,” the fan wrote.
Another reaction took aim at the league itself. “What are we doing.
Can we all vouch to not buy anything Cowboys or Ravens for an entire year? Make the owners tell the commish they’re not doing this bs ever again?
I love the Cowboys but I’ll do whatever it takes to make this stop happening,” the fan wrote.
Local players who use the stadium regularly have also raised concerns. Flamengo goalkeeper Agustín Rossi said bumps covered both penalty areas during recent matches, and midfielder Giorgian De Arrascaeta said the surface has made it harder to control the ball.
Tretter has said the issue fits a troubling pattern in Brazil. “Two of the three games played in Brazil have had field-related issues. That’s not a coincidence,” he said, per Yahoo Sports.
Before the 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff, Cowboys players and staff were set to inspect the field in person. Cowboys media on-site described the grass as noticeably high but better than it had looked earlier in the week, with more maintenance work expected right up until game time.
Both the NFL and NFLPA say their staffs will keep watching conditions until the opening snap. Jerry Jones has already brushed aside the worries, saying he’s confident the field will be ready and that rain hasn’t bothered him. Pappas has offered the same basic confidence from the league side, noting that football and soccer ask different things from the same surface.
The real answer, though, won’t come from a press update or a photo. It will come when the players start cutting and planting on the turf Sunday.
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