A Lifeless Crowd, Blurry Picture and Awful Field: This Is NFL International in 2024 | Mike Gunzelman
Football fans across social media were not impressed and at times even angry about last night's Brazilian NFL debut between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers that was only available via streaming on NBC Peacock. A variety of poor field conditions, shotty graphics, a streaming delay that hurt live sports bettors, and a lackluster crowd was the perfect storm for the NFL to turn off many American viewers from the idea of international games.
Almost immediately after last night's kickoff, fans noticed that the playing turf at San Paulo's Corinthians Arena was worse than MetLife Stadium's infamously horrible field conditions. Players were slipping all over the place last night as Eagles and Packers fans were most likely cursing up a storm while watching at home praying that nobody got hurt. (Packers quarterback Jordan Love in fact, did get hurt, but that came via a tackle rather than the turf.)
BAD VIDEO / AUDIO QUALITY
That is, however, for the fans that could actually see what was happening on the NBC Peacock app, which again came out blurry on some television screens.
Streaming platforms like NBC Peacock already have a negative stigma about them from many sports fans. However, last night's really took the cake with viewers actively calling out the network for their subpar delivery as well as poor audio quality cutting in and out.
Another issue that is quickly becoming a big deal is the fact that sports bettors have now started complaining that they can't live bet the game because the stream is a good 20–30 seconds delayed. That's definitely not ideal for an NFL league that is constantly promoting sports betting apps like DraftKings and FanDuel to the fans.
I can personally attest to this - many times last night I would try to get a live bet in, only to open the app and realize that I was a good two plays behind; at one point, Jalen Hurts had already thrown an interception, but it still hadn't aired yet on Peacock. Not ballin!
FANS WERE SILENT
Then there were the fans.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is constantly telling fans that spreading the game to international countries will be a great thing and will only grow the sport. We were led to believe by both the NFL and NBC that Brazil had "one of the largest NFL fanbase markets in the world!" and that the players would love last night's atmosphere.
Well Roger, where were those rabid and appreciative fans, because they sure as heck weren't at Corinthians Stadium last night? There was barely any hype, any level of excitement with the crowd only cheering when there as a touchdown or maybe one or two other big plays.
One has to feel bad for Eagles and Packers fans that what should have been a game held at either Green Bay's Lambeau Field or Philly's Lincoln Financial Field, had to be subjected to the NFL's desire to pander and bring in as much money as possible as they continue with their international push of the game.
If the NFL was so determined to play in Brazil no matter what, one would think that the league would put two awful teams down there instead, considering the fans weren't going to react either way. Might as well have the Patriots and the Panthers; the game would have still sold out and neither team winning or losing would have playoff consequences later this season.
Unfortunately, with the league mandating this past December that each NFL team must play an international game every four years (leading to the potential of 8 next year) it seems that this is the futurre of the sport that we all love so much.
Well as the old saying goes, the future stinks.
DID YOU HAVE ANY NBC PEACOCK STREAMING ISSUES LAST NIGHT? TWEET ME: @TheGunzShow