Eagles take on Packers in Brazil: What to know before historic NFL game in São Paulo

This story originally appeared on 6abc.

The Philadelphia Eagles are getting ready for their season opener in Brazil.

The game kicks off Friday at 8:15 p.m. ET against the Green Bay Packers.

Our team has already made the long, more than 4,700-mile journey. Stay with Action News and Brian Taff all week long as we give you the sights and sounds of Brazil’s most populated city, São Paulo.

The game will be the NFL’s first in Brazil and in South America as a whole. It’s also the NFL’s first Friday game on opening weekend in more than 50 years.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to play in a neutral site and have a slightly different schedule of things that happen,” said coach Nick Sirianni over the weekend. “Like you have a big bye, like a mini bye, coming off of it. So, there are a lot of positives in it. It’s also to spread the game to a new country, which is exciting.”

Travel plans

The Eagles will leave Philadelphia on Wednesday for about a 10-hour flight.

There will be a walkthru at the Corinthians Arena on Thursday, which is home to the Brazilian soccer team, SC Corinthians.

“This landmark first international game in South America demonstrates the ongoing expansion of our global footprint,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell previously said about the game. “Playing on Friday night of Week 1 is a unique way to highlight our international growth and ambitions.”

X blocked nationwide

Eagles fans who are traveling to the game should expect to not have access to Elon Musk’s social media platform X while abroad.

A Brazilian Supreme Court panel has upheld the decision of one of its justices to block X nationwide, according to the court’s website.

The broader support among justices deals a blow to Musk and his supporters who have sought to characterize Justice Alexandre de Moraes as a renegade and authoritarian censor of political speech.

The panel is comprised of five of the full bench’s 11 justices, including de Moraes, who last Friday ordered the platform blocked for having failed to name a local legal representative, as required by law. X will remain blocked until it complies with his orders and pays outstanding fines that as of last week exceeded $3 million, according to his decision.

Share your Eagles pride

If you’re traveling to the game or staying here at home, don’t forget to share your Eagles pride. Upload them here and they could be on Action News!

Tourist safety

Perhaps you heard a rumor circulating pretty widely on social media in recent weeks that Eagles fans coming here should not wear their green because green is the color of this city’s principal rival in soccer.

Well, it’s not true. The State Department and the NFL both disavow that, saying if you’re coming, let your Eagles fandom fly.

But the fact that it persisted speaks to one of the city’s most pressing issues: crime. But they’ve seen great progress by attacking it head-on.

In the neighborhoods that dot this sprawling city, the chasm becomes immediately clear in so many ways how São Paulo has two distinct groups: the haves and the have-nots, and there’s little in between.

The richest 1% here owns a staggering 49% of the property, many of them choosing to fly over São Paulo’s notorious traffic.

But on the ground, the poorest are largely relegated to places like favelas, where conditions are cramped. Luxuries are few in these areas, and crime, especially targeting tourists, is high.

Angela Kerwin, the State Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Overseas Citizen Services, said it is important to be alert.

São Paulo is a big city. So you need to have your kind of big city radar and antenna on.

But the crime that’s long been associated with this place has changed in many ways remarkably so.

Despite this being the sixth largest city on the planet, violent crime has dropped significantly. Officials say it just reached its lowest homicide rate in 24 years.

The story behind the Christ the Redeemer statue

The road to see the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is winding and steep.

But at the top sits an icon, not just of the Rio skyline, but of the faith at the foundation of this city.

But the story of why they built it on the Corcovado mountain is one most people are unfamiliar with. It’s a testament to the humility of the highest order.

In 1888, Princess Isabel signed what’s now called “The Golden Law.” It’s just 18 words that abolished slavery in this country. She did it while her father, the emperor, was out of Brazil. She was left briefly in charge.

The result? She was lauded as Brazil’s Redemptress, having saved so many from a life of enslavement.

And so began the movement to honor her with a statue. As a devout Catholic, she declined, demanding any monument not give glory to her but instead give glory to the mercy of God.

Nearly 2 million people a year visit this monument, which rises almost 2,800 feet above the city below. In fact, there’s so much global curiosity about it that in 2007, this was named one of the new seven wonders of the world.

And when you’re here, it’s not hard to understand why.

The statue stands 98 feet tall, not including the 26-foot pedestal on which it stands. The arms of Christ are outstretched as a gesture of welcoming, reaching 92 feet from finger to finger.

It’s the largest Art Deco statue in the world. In fact, it’s the largest ever built to date.

ESPN and the Associated Press contributed to this report.