Why the Chargers Shockingly Left the Chiefs’ Brazil Game Wide Open for the Taking

Here’s a curveball for you — the Chargers had every opportunity to keep their AFC West opener against the Chiefs locked down on their home turf, but they opted instead to send this clash of titans halfway across the globe to Brazil. Yep, that Week 1 Friday night game is reportedly headed to São Paulo, a choice that stands out given the NFL’s rule allowing teams to shield up to two home matchups from international relocation. Interestingly, the Chargers decided to not protect any of their divisional rivals at home — the Chiefs, Broncos, or Raiders — preferring instead to hold onto games against less frequent visitors like the Steelers and Eagles. The exact protected games remain a mystery for now, but if this report holds true, we’ll see the Chiefs dazzling fans in Brazil while the rest of the Chargers’ slate stays put at SoFi Stadium. It’s a bold move — one that mixes strategy, fan engagement abroad, and maybe just a little bit of poker-faced calculation. LEARN MORE

The Chargers could have kept their “home” game against the Chiefs at home. They decided not to.The league reportedly has picked the Chiefs to be the Week 1 Friday night opponent for the Chargers in Brazil. The Chiefs game was not one of the two home games that Chargers chose to protect.As recently explained by Ben Fischer and Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal, teams exporting home games to the international series can protect up to two games. The Chargers, per the report, did not protect any of their three AFC West home games.The Chargers host the Chiefs, Broncos, and Raiders every year. They opted to focus on teams that visit less frequently, with the Steelers, Commanders, and Eagles specifically named as the games the Chargers were more inclined to protect.The specific two the Chargers protected haven’t been identified. It doesn’t matter. If the report that it will be the Chiefs is accurate (the official announcement comes Tuesday morning), the Chiefs game goes to São Paulo, and the other eight (Steelers, Eagles, Commanders, Texans, Colts, Vikings, Raiders, and Broncos) will stay at SoFi.