UPDATED with matchup details. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that the Kansas City Chiefs will face the L.A. Chargers in an early-September game streaming globally on YouTube.
The commissioner made the announcement Wednesday night at YouTube’s Brandcast event for advertisers. The Chargers being in on the precedent-setting streaming event from Brazil had been disclosed Wednesday by YouTube. “I can trust you, right?” Goodell said to the audience, given that the event was a few minutes before the league’s full schedule reveal was planned.
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In a first, YouTube will stream a full NFL game in September, exclusively carrying the league’s newly established annual game in Brazil.
The NFL had previously announced a sequel to last fall’s successful debut edition in São Paulo, which streamed on Peacock, but no rights partner had been announced. YouTube will include a splashy segment on the game at its Brandcast event for advertisers on Wednesday.
YouTube will give the league access to a global audience, which is in line with its strategic goals. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is expected onstage at Brandcast to tout the plan, the latest partnership between YouTube and the league. Goodell spoke at Brandcast in 2023 to highlight the start of Sunday Ticket carriage.
The Los Angeles Chargers are one of the teams competing. The other will be confirmed on Wednesday night when the NFL releases its full 2025 schedule.
“We are excited to expand our relationship with YouTube to bring this year’s Brazil game to a worldwide audience,” said Hans Schroeder, NFL executive vice president of media distribution. “YouTube and YouTube TV have been incredible partners of the NFL for several years and boast an immense global reach, and we look forward to Week 1 in São Paulo.”
Mary Ellen Coe, chief business officer at YouTube, who will join Goodell onstage Wednesday, said NFL content generated 350 million hours of viewing in 2024.
“Streaming the Friday night game to fans for free the world will mark YouTube’s first time as a live NFL broadcaster,” she said, “and we’ll do it in a way that only YouTube can, with an interactive viewing experience and creators right at the center of the experience.”
The game will be available via YouTube globally, except in Canada and certain other countries. Mobile access will be available on U.S. devices with an NFL+ subscription, and outside the U.S. through NFL Game Pass on DAZN for paid subscribers.
Under the terms of the overall media rights agreements with U.S.-based broadcasters, the game will be available on free, over-the-air broadcast television in Los Angeles and the market of the Chargers’ opponent.
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