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GREEN BAY — Mark Murphy sounded very much like a man who’ll be taking his team on a much longer odyssey to start the 2024 NFL season than the Green Bay Packers’ Tailgate Tour bus ride which began Tuesday.
Murphy didn’t refute the suggestion that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the league want one of their best-known franchises to play the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 6 at Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
“I think we’re either the first- or second-most popular team in Brazil,” Murphy said. “Apparently, they like green and gold.”
Brazil’s national flag, of course, consists of a green background with a large yellow diamond incorporating a blue disk with a white band and stars.
Murphy then said he thought only the New England Patriots — with quarterback Tom Brady and his then-wife Gisele Bündchen, a Brazilian supermodel — had been more popular than the Packers, but “I think that was a few years (ago),” Murphy said.
“We’re very popular there,” Murphy said. “As we’ve talked about, we’re kind of the ‘people’s team.’ People really like the idea of a community-owned team, with our history and tradition.”
Murphy said at the annual NFL Meetings last month the NFL had narrowed its choices to the Packers and the Cleveland Browns as the Eagles’ opponent for the game.
The game is technically an Eagles home game, and it could be a competitive advantage for the Packers to play at a theoretically neutral site — even one outside of the United States — rather than facing the Eagles in, say, a late-November game at Lincoln Financial Field with NFC playoff implications.
The Packers played their first regular-season international game in 2022, when they lost to the New York Giants at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. That game was a Packers’ home game, and the Packers were less than thrilled to have to travel across the pond and give up a home game at Lambeau Field to do so.
If selected for Brazil, the Packers would have nine home games and only seven true road games at NFC North rivals Chicago, Detroit and Minnesota, plus visits to the Jacksonville Jaguars, Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans.
Murphy said he expects the decision “pretty soon,” though he did not say when the NFL planned to announce the Eagles’ opponent.
Murphy’s primary issue with the Packers being chosen is the logistics of such a trip. He mentioned at the NFL Meetings the runways at Austin Straubel International Airport in Green Bay aren’t long enough to accommodate the size of plane the Packers will require for a flight to Brazil, which might force the Packers to bus to Milwaukee to fly out for the game.
Murphy said the Brazil trip would be a 12-hour flight while the trip to London was only “a six- or seven-hour flight.”
“Philadelphia will just hop on a plane and go down and we’re not sure exactly what we’ll have to do to get to Brazil,” Murphy said.
The NFL had announced in December that the league would play its first regular-season game in Brazil, and that the Eagles would be the host team. Corinthians Arena played host to, among other events, six matches during the 2014 FIFA Men’s World Cup.
Murphy acknowledged concern for it being the first NFL game in Brazil.
“(But), this is very important for the league,” Murphy said. “The Packers are very popular in Brazil. If we’re chosen, we’ll gladly go.”
Green Bay Packers Tailgate Tour stops 2024
Closer to home, the annual Tailgate Tour runs through Saturday and will include stops in Kenosha, Beloit and Platteville before coming to Sun Prairie on Friday.
Current players Elgton Jenkins, Kenny Clark and Rasheed Walker and alumni players Bryan Bulaga, Mike Daniels and Alex Green are on the trip with Murphy, who is heading into his final season as team president before reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70 in July 2025.
“We all know the Packers are the state team, not just obviously Green Bay and Milwaukee,” Murphy said. “When you go across different parts of the state, you get a great appreciation for the type of fan support we have.
“I just love seeing, especially the young kids, how excited they are when our players walk in the building. When the bus pulls up, it’s pretty noticeable.”
The team is staging a variety of surprise and planned visits and fundraising events in each area, benefiting local nonprofit organizations.
In Kenosha, the Shalom Center was set to host an event at The Club at Strawberry Creek on Tuesday; in Beloit, the NeighborWorks Blackhawk Region will host an event at the Eclipse Event Center on Wednesday; Platteville Dairy Days will host an event at Broske Center in Platteville on Thursday; and in Sun Prairie, Sunshine Place will host an event at The Pavilion at Angell Park on Friday.
“(The Tailgate Tour) was going on when I was playing, but I always said no to it because I always felt when I got back into Green Bay, it was time to work. I never really thought about going on the trip,” admitted Bulaga, who played with the Packers from 2010 through 2019. “Everyone always said it was a great time, they enjoyed it, it was great to get out in the state and see fans from around the state.
“When (the organization) asked me to do it this year, it was a no-brainer. Obviously, I’m not getting back to work when I’m in Green Bay anymore, so it’s a great opportunity, I think, to go see fans and to help out a lot of non-profits.”
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Gabriel Mafra, a Bay Packers fan from Brazil, poses for a photo in the Barrow boy and Banker on London Bridge during a Packers event Oct. 6 2022, in London.