The Packers aren’t shying away from rumors of opening the season in Brazil

“We’re either the first- or second-most popular team in Brazil,” said Packers president Mark Murphy on Tuesday.

The Green Bay Packers’ Tailgate Tour is underway, meaning that everyone’s favorite truth-teller — Packers president Mark Murphy — is currently on the road. Murphy is known for spilling the beans around a hot mic, notably telling a news crew at Wisconsin’s girls’ basketball tournament last season far too much about the Aaron Rodgers situation last March.

With the Rodgers drama behind the franchise, the new topic seems to be the Week 1 opener, possibly against the Philadelphia Eagles. At the NFL’s annual meetings last month, Murphy revealed that the Packers and Cleveland Browns were the two finalists selected to play the NFL’s opening game of the season in 2024 against the Eagles — who will be “hosting” the game in Brazil on a Friday. Many have speculated that international games are a way around the NFL having to play around federal law (Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961) that mandates that teams cannot televise games on Friday or Saturday through the second weekend of December if they are within 75 miles of a high school football program.

On Tuesday, Murphy told the crowd of fans there to participate in the Tailgate Tour that, “[The Packers are] either the first- or second-most popular team in Brazil,” per ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. He later added, “This is very important for the league. If we’re chosen, we’ll gladly go.”

Murphy previously showed concern for the trip to Brazil, as the local airport is unable to facilitate the team’s international flight — meaning that the squad would have to bus down to Milwaukee before stepping foot on a jet. The tone change between these conversations is interesting, as it appears that the organization is inching toward accepting that they really might be the squad that’s tapped on the shoulder to make the trip.

It’s worth noting here, though, that Browns general manager and executive vice president of football operations Andrew Berry — maybe the most important person in Cleveland’s organization — previously worked with the Eagles in 2019 as their vice president of football operations. It’s possible that the close ties between the Cleveland and Philadelphia franchises end up being the dealbreaker for sending that matchup to Brazil, but, from a fanbase perspective, the Packers should draw more fans for the game than the Browns if the NFL really wants to blowout their first venture into South America.