The Dallas Cowboys might still get a home game in Week 3 versus the Baltimore Ravens. Speculation began to grow late Sunday that the league might have to move its Cowboys-Ravens matchup in Rio de Janeiro back to the United States.
But no such plans are in the works yet despite field condition concerns.
“The NFL is moving forward with the Cowboys-Ravens game as scheduled next Sunday in Brazil and plans to address the field-condition issues at Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro that have been raised by some soccer players in recent days,” wrote Front Office Sports’ Mark Maske.
Maske added that an NFL spokesman told him “the league is looking forward” to the latest NFL showcase in Brazil and that the league has a plan to “ensure a high-quality playing surface.
Field conditions have regularly become a concern with international playing surfaces. Most notably, the NFL relocated a Monday night showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams in 2018 from Mexico City to Los Angeles because of field problems.
“Eight years ago, the NFL moved a Chiefs-Rams game from Mexico City to L.A. due to field concerns,” ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio wrote Sunday night. “However, the league has seemingly adopted a ‘damn the torpedoes’ approach when it comes to globalizing the game — and it doesn’t seem to be inclined to let something like a less-than-ideal field get in the way.”
Cowboys-Ravens Matchup Moving Forward in Brazil
If the field conditions are bad enough, then the NFL is going to have no choice but to move the Cowboys-Ravens showdown to Dallas. Presumably, AT&T Stadium is the alternate site for the game since the Cowboys are the home team versus Baltimore.
While Florio is right the league has strongly pushed its international series as of late, it’s not worth the bad PR for the league in the United States if the Cowboys and Ravens players are at extra risk of injury in Brazil.
The league outright cancelled the Hall of Fame Game to open the preseason in 2016 because conditions were not at an acceptable standard.
Having said that, the NFL is likely to try everything possible to get the field surface in Brazil playable. And if playing on it requires players to change their cleats regularly during the game, then the league will ensure both teams have plenty of footwear to proceed with the game.
Fields in Germany and other countries have caused players to need different cleats or to change spikes during the game. The league faced initial backlash for the playing surface during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers-Seattle Seahawks game in Munich during 2022.
In summary, the field is going to have to be in really bad shape for the league to relocate the game. That’s possible but not likely.
Dallas Set to Make History vs. Baltimore
As long as the game doesn’t relocate, the Cowboys and Ravens are set to make history in a couple different ways.
The matchup will be the league’s first game in Rio de Janeiro. It will also be just the third game ever in Brazil.
Two years ago, the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles played in Sāo Paulo. The Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs played in the same stadium last year.
Unlike those games, the Cowboys-Ravens showdown won’t be in primetime. But it will air on CBS in the late afternoon window throughout most of the United States.
The Cowboys will enter the matchup with a 1-1 record after they defeated the Washington Commanders during Week 2. Dallas bounced back from an embarrassing Week 1 defeat to knock off the Commanders 37-20.
Cowboys Have Potential Brazil Field Condition Concerns Ahead in Week 3: Report