NFL Rio Game Brings Cowboys and Ravens to Brazil’s Maracana on 27 September 2026

By The Rio Times | Created at 2026-09-18 15:11:26 | Updated at 2026-09-19 01:15:25 10 hours ago

BRAZIL · SPORT

Key Facts

—What happens The Dallas Cowboys host the Baltimore Ravens at the Maracana on Sunday 27 September 2026.
—Kick-off The game starts at 5:25 p.m. Brasilia time, in Week 3 of the NFL regular season.
—Halftime Brazilian DJ Pedro Sampaio and Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin perform at halftime.
—Tickets Listed prices run from R$427 to R$6,187, roughly US$83 to US$1,205.
—How to watch Brazilian coverage runs on sportv, ge tv, ge.globo and TV Globo.

The NFL Rio Game is the league’s first regular-season fixture in Rio de Janeiro. Here is what is confirmed, and what it costs.

Aerial view of the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, its white roof ring surrounding the pitch, with the city around it.

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What Is Confirmed

The National Football League plays its first regular-season game in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday 27 September 2026. The Dallas Cowboys host the Baltimore Ravens at the Maracana, Brazil’s best-known stadium.

Kick-off is at 5:25 p.m. Brasilia time. The NFL lists the fixture in Week 3 of its regular season.

The designated home team is Dallas, even though the game is played abroad. That is standard practice for the league’s international fixtures, and it decides which side gives up a home date.

The Maracana normally hosts football, in the sense the rest of the world uses the word. For this fixture the pitch is re-marked to American football dimensions.

Where This Sits in the League’s Long Push South

This is not the league’s first game in Brazil. The NFL has staged regular-season fixtures in Sao Paulo in recent seasons, and Rio is the next step rather than a departure.

The pattern is familiar from other sports. A league tests a market with one fixture, measures the response, and then decides whether to return.

For Rio the question is repeat business rather than novelty. A single sold-out game proves curiosity; a second and third prove a market.

The same logic shaped the league’s expansion into London and Mexico City over two decades. Neither happened in one season, and neither was decided by the first crowd.

Tickets, Times and Coverage

Listed ticket prices run from R$427 to R$6,187. At 5.14 reais to the dollar, published by open.er-api.com on 18 September 2026, that is roughly US$83 to US$1,205.

The spread is wide because the upper tiers include hospitality. The entry price is the figure most residents will care about.

Brazilian broadcast coverage runs on sportv, ge tv and ge.globo. TV Globo carries the game as well, including the halftime show.

The halftime performers are the Brazilian DJ Pedro Sampaio and the Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin. Both were confirmed by the league and reported in the United States and Brazil.

Kick-off at 5:25 p.m. in Rio is early evening locally. For viewers in Europe it falls late at night, and on the United States east coast it is mid-afternoon.

What It Means If You Live Here

For foreign residents in Brazil, the practical value is access. A fixture of this kind normally requires a long flight and a hotel, and this one does not.

The Maracana sits in the north of the city and is served by rail and metro connections. Match-day crowds at that stadium are routine, and the transport pattern is well established.

Anyone planning to attend should treat it as a full afternoon and evening rather than a two-hour outing. Stadium access at the Maracana is staged, and entry closes well before kick-off.

The wider point is about what Rio is being sold. A one-off international fixture is a test of the city’s event capacity as much as of local appetite for the sport.

What Is Not Yet Settled

The league has not said whether Rio will host again. That decision usually follows the season rather than the game.

Ticket availability at the entry price also changes over time, and resale listings do not reflect the original tiers. The figures above are the published range, not a guarantee of what is still on sale.

For residents the sensible approach is to treat the fixture as what it is. It is one confirmed evening at a stadium with a long history, not a verdict on anything larger.