Two star players with the Philadelphia Eagles are questioning why the NFL scheduled a game in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Friday night.
It wasn’t the travel that had receiver A.J. Brown and cornerback Darius Slay Jr. concerned about playing the Green Bay Packers in their 2024 season opener, though. It was the high crime rate in the Brazilian city that was the focus of their complaints, according to Fox News.
Brazil’s gun violence and crime rates are among the highest in Latin America, according to the Associated Press. Thefts of cell phones are also on the rise in Sao Paulo.
“Week 1, I’m looking forward to it, I can’t wait,” Slay said on his Big Play Slay podcast earlier this week. “But man, I do not want to go to Brazil. You want to know why? I’m here to tell you why. They already told us not to leave the hotel. They told us we can’t do too much going on because the crime rate is crazy.
“I’m like, ‘NFL, why y’all wanna send us somewhere where the crime rate is this high and we out the country?’ I’m going to be in the hotel chilling, minding my business, playing my game after a long 9½-hour flight.”
Slay later apologized for his comments, saying he was sorry if he offended anyone. But he wasn’t alone in being worried about his safety in Sao Paulo.
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Brown told reporters, according to ESPN, that players have been told what they shouldn’t do during their trip to Sao Paulo, which will be the first time the NFL has played a game in South America.
“We had a meeting with a whole bunch of ‘don’t do’s,’” Brown reportedly said. “So, I’m just trying to go down there, win a football game and come back home.”
Apparently Sao Paulo’s state government has heard those concerns and is planning to beef up security at NeoQuimica Arena, with hundreds of civilian and military police deployed to the stadium while helicopters and drones also will be used. Military police will be used to escort the team buses to their hotels, practice facility and the stadium.
“Our policing will be beefed up during the week to secure the public’s safety for this historic match, with officers on the streets and avenues around the stadium, in public transportation, in the hotels and in tourist areas of the city,” the security secretariat said, according to AP.
The Eagles-Packers game is scheduled for 8:15 p.m. ET on Friday.