SÃO PAULO — Late Wednesday night, the scene of the Kansas City Chiefs‘ arrival at São Paulo’s international airport was reminiscent of rock stars on a world tour.
Hundreds of fans from Brazil and throughout South America — many of whom have never seen an NFL game in person — arrived hours before the Chiefs walked through the terminal to be in position to greet and touch several members of their favorite team. The large crowd cheered, recorded videos and chanted the last names of quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce. Many screamed when Kelce surprised a group of women by high-fiving each of them. He even applauded the warm welcome.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid, one of the first people off the plane, was mesmerized by how many children wore a red, white and yellow Chiefs jersey. A number of fans held signs for the star players and rookies alike — “[Running back Isiah] Pacheco notice me, please,” “Travis, I’ve been a fan for 10 years,” and “Welcome our favorite rookie, [defensive end] Ashton Gillotte” — in a scene the franchise had been hoping to witness when the NFL scheduled the Chiefs to play in yet another international game, their fourth in 11 years, this time Friday against the Los Angeles Chargers (8 p.m. ET on YouTube) for both teams’ season opener.
“Getting off the plane yesterday was amazing,” Mahomes said Thursday after the team’s quick walk-through. “The [fans] were loud. We landed late, so it’s really cool to see that the Chiefs are known here in Brazil and known well.
“We want to take American football worldwide. I’m super excited to get out there and play in front of the fans. It’s going to be a great environment.”
Since 2015, when they beat the Detroit Lions in London, the Chiefs have grown to love playing abroad. They see it as an opportunity to exhibit their winning style to as many fans in the world as they can. The Chiefs’ success overseas led club owner Clark Hunt to express in late March that his desire is for his team to play in an international game every year, whether as a home team — giving them one fewer game at Arrowhead Stadium — or away team. And Friday’s game — a stand-alone matchup, and the only one of the day, broadcast globally — presents the latest opportunity to further a goal for a franchise that has won three Super Bowls since the 2019 season and participated in five of the past six.
“We’ve been very transparent in our desire to become the world’s team,” Hunt said Thursday night at a Chiefs event. “A big part of that is growing the Chiefs Kingdom all over the globe. We’ve made a lot of progress in Western Europe over the last decade and now we get to come to South America, to the most important country in South America.”
Midway through last season, the Chiefs became the NFL’s top TV draw and the league’s most-watched team. By Thanksgiving, the franchise was involved in four of the league’s five most-watched games. Later, the league also selected the Chiefs for stand-alone games for Amazon’s Black Friday game (a win over the Las Vegas Raiders) and one of Netflix’s Christmas games (a victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers). The Chiefs’ win against the Houston Texans in the AFC divisional round in January produced record viewership for ESPN; the 32.7 million viewers made it the most-watched NFL game in the network’s history.
Speaking to local fans Thursday night at the Chiefs’ event, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell shared two reasons why the team was selected to face the Chargers at Corinthians Arena: Hunt’s passion for sharing the sport worldwide, and the Chiefs being winners.
“He understands, just like his father [team founder Lamar Hunt] did, the importance of doing what’s right for the game and the NFL overall — and that lifts all boats,” Goodell said. “Their success is why, I think, they have so many fans around the world. People watch the Super Bowl and they see the Chiefs in the Super Bowl and dominating the playoffs.
“That’s really something our fans appreciate. Having a team that wants to come, and we can show off our best teams, that’s a great thing for us.”
OVER THE PAST decade, the Chiefs’ brand — and the recognition of its star players, such as Mahomes, Kelce and pass rusher Chris Jones — has grown exponentially overseas. The Chiefs have been featured in a Hallmark film, they have the NFL’s largest following on TikTok (5.2 million) and the team’s history and its 2024 season was chronicled in a six-part ESPN documentary series titled “The Kingdom.”
“The NFL tracks [every team’s] fan base,” Chiefs team president Mark Donovan said in late July. “You can imagine in 2009 and 2010, we were looking up a long way to get into the top 10.
“As great as our fans are, you have the challenge of a smaller market, the challenge of not being really successful on the field. We’ve been able to do things off the field, innovative-wise, marketing-wise, the movies. Things like that have created a much bigger fan base. The cool thing about it for us and our strategy is that one of the reasons we’re No. 1 is because we have a worldwide fan base.”
Part of such growth is because the Chiefs, following Friday’s game, will have played a game in London (2015), Mexico City (2019), Frankfurt, Germany (2023) and São Paulo, becoming the first NFL team to play a regular-season game in four different countries.
“We know it’s going to be wild,” Reid said of the game’s anticipated atmosphere. “We appreciate all the interest. It’s so exciting to be able to come down here and have an opportunity to play in this game.
“We feel privileged to be an [NFL] ambassador of sorts. We know [American football] is growing here. We respect soccer. Both can exist at the same time and have a lot of success.”
Some of that recognition can be traced to Taylor Swift, who could, according to team president Mark Donovan, make an appearance Friday night at Corinthians Arena.
“She is an authentic member of Chiefs Kingdom,” Donovan said last month. “From the early information I have, she plans on being [at Chiefs games] a lot more. It’s an incredible opportunity for us, but we try to look at it as she’s a member of our family, so we try to treat her that way.”
TRAVIS KELCE: UM FOFO 🥰🇧🇷@NFL | @Chiefs pic.twitter.com/218fDmbNXL
— NFL Brasil (@NFLBrasil) September 4, 2025
One of the most memorable moments from Thursday’s news conference was a reporter telling Kelce that he is the NFL’s most famous player. A few minutes later, Kelce shared his perspective — that much of his fame has been elevated because of his relationship with the pop megastar.
“I got one more ring from it,” a smiling Kelce said, referring to his recent engagement with Swift. “Ever since I’ve been dating Taylor, life has been fun, it’s been exciting. Obviously, a lot more eyes — and I accept that. I’m living life, living on a high.”
With a victory over the Chargers, the Chiefs would match the Minnesota Vikings for the most international wins (four) without a loss. And they are hoping to win over new fans, in Brazil and throughout South America, in the process.
“It’s an exciting time,” Kelce said, smiling. “You get to hang out with all the guys and this is something we’ll all remember.”
Kelce said, noting the 12-hour flight the team made to Brazil, it has been “a unique and a different experience. But at the same time, it’s something that’s going to make us feel that much more proud about what we’re doing over here if we can come out with a win.”
THE CHIEFS UNDERSTAND a win over their AFC West Division rival will be a perfect pairing with the efforts they’ve made to market their team and brand to Brazilian fans — fans they hope will still be rooting for the team long after Reid, Mahomes, Kelce and Jones retire.
Before Friday’s game, the Chiefs released several videos on their social media accounts to demonstrate how many fans in Brazil have watched their previous games, such as the past Super Bowls. At the Chiefs’ event Thursday night, the team put photographs and artifacts on display to further familiarize fans with the team’s prominent players and the franchise’s history. Even Goodell and Hunt, as a thank you, served as bartenders for 45 minutes, pouring local beers for fans, taking photos and chatting with them about the NFL.
“The exposure, from our standpoint, I think is going to be great because more fans can now enjoy it,” Goodell said.
Because of their familiarity traveling abroad, the Chiefs had a set routine ahead of the matchup with the Chargers. Like for their previous international trips, Reid and his players went through their usual practice schedule — on-field sessions Sunday, Monday and Tuesday at the team’s training facility — then boarded their charter for São Paulo on Wednesday morning.
Once in Brazil, the Chiefs kept their walk-through on Thursday morning at São Paulo Athletic Club to less than 45 minutes.
“For me, I’m kind of almost used to it; I’ve been traveling back and forth from Greece since I was a kid,” defensive end George Karlaftis, who grew up in Athens until the eighth grade. “Being an international guy, I’m all for more international games. That’s the next step in getting this game to grow.”
With such a light practice load, much of the Chiefs’ goal Thursday was to showcase the personality of the team to a new audience.
Within minutes of their news conference together, Kelce perfectly executed a joke at Mahomes’ expense by doing an impression of the quarterback’s voice, which sounds similar to Kermit the Frog of The Muppets.
Travis did a Mahomes impression after he called him out 😭
KCvsLAC- Friday 8pm ET on YouTube pic.twitter.com/EH5EPdOWFD
— NFL (@NFL) September 4, 2025
Jones crashed the news conference by walking onto the stage with a camera from one of the team’s videographers to capture his teammate’s initial reactions. When it was Jones’ turn to chat with reporters, he shared that he met with Brazil president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — known in Brazil simply as “Lula” — and guaranteed that he would return to São Paulo.
On Friday night, the Chiefs’ plan is to showcase a joyful playing style — one featuring plenty of deep passes from Mahomes, improvisation and chemistry between Mahomes and Kelce, speed from receiver Xavier Worthy and Pacheco, tenacity from Jones and tactical blitzes from longtime defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.
“You’re coming here to play football, a game,” Mahomes said. “We’re getting to play in front of a great fan base and we’re playing against one of our divisional opponents. It’ll be a great test for us.
“But if you’re going to be here, you might as well try to win.”
