Billy Penn
‘Philly Special’ QB Nick Foles is officially retiring as an Eagle
The Super Bowl LII MVP and champion is calling an end to his 11-year NFL career at the Birds’ home opener on September 16.
5 months ago
Eagles fans have been flocking to Brazil ahead of the season opener on Sept. 6, 2024. (6abc)
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.”
The Eagles will debut a unique look for the historic game.
The team announced it would be wearing black helmets, white jerseys and black pants for the matchup in Sao Paulo, with no hint of green anywhere on the uniform.
It’s the first time the team will wear this particular combination in a game. The Eagles will be bringing back their black alternate helmets that debuted in 2022.
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.”
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.
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!
São Paulo is in one word, massive.
It’s the most populous city in all of Central and South America. The metro area is home to 22.6 million people, almost three times as many who call New York City home.
It’s also sprawling. The city alone covers 587 square miles, more than four times larger than Philadelphia. It’s home to more people of Italian descent who currently live in Rome and has the largest Japanese community outside of Japan.
It is a lot of people, and by extension, a lot of things at once, teaming with a culture that seems to ooze from the streets but struggling under the sheer enormity of keeping up with the needs of its residents.
One in ten who live here makes their homes in high-density makeshift neighborhoods.
“You see a very vibrant, modern town in some parts of the town, and then right next to it you see the shafts, like the slums, people living in in cardboard houses,” said Larrisa Lautert, who lives in São Paulo.
The Tiete River River is one of the city’s two main bodies of water. It’s among the most evident victims of its fast growth coupled with decades of corruption. At times, this river is a biological dead zone, unable to support any kind of life along with 160-mile stretch.
And traffic, well, that can be brutal.
While the population of São Paulo soared more than 10% in the last decade, the number of cars here rose by more than 110%. The result is gridlock.
But all of that is inspiring Paulistas, as they’re known, to harness their power to build a better future, and they are doing that right now.
“You can find anything you want in São Paulo at any time because it’s a city that never sleeps as well,” said Lautert.
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 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.