PHILADELPHIA — If there’s any player in the NFL who knows how massive the league playing a game in Brazil is, it’s Tanner McKee. No player has walked a mile on the Brazilian streets like McKee, who spent 21 months living in Curitiba and Sao Paulo as part of his missionary service for the Church of Latter Day Saints before playing at Stanford.
McKee knows everything a person in Brazil would need to know. During his two missions in the country, the Eagles quarterback learned to speak Portuguese (and still speaks it fluently). McKee hasn’t been back since, yet he’s more than excited to return to a country that has played a significant role in his life.
“I’ve been hitting up a bunch of my friends,” McKee said. “I know some people that are going to try to come to the game. It means a lot. I’m excited for the guys to be around that culture. … It’ll be fun for the whole team to experience the culture. It’s an amazing culture.”
The NFL is playing in Brazil for the first time, as the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers will play in the first contest in South America. A league that is trying to globalize the game, Brazil is the third-largest market with followers for American football in the world, with 38 million followers. The United States is obviously first, followed by Mexico, then Brazil.
The NFL coming to Brazil is massive for the country, a chance for Brazil to show how it will embrace a game it has grown to love.
“I think they’ll definitely love it,” McKee said. “It’s similar to the city of Philadelphia. Any time you show a little bit of love, they’re going to love you back 10 times more. And so, just having an NFL team there and present, the fans are going to love it.
“I’ve had hundreds of people, just when we announced that we’re going to play in the game, hundreds of Brazilians following me on social media, hitting me up, asking me questions. So I think it’s going…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/eagles-qb-tanner-mckee-explains-how-nfl-is-growing-game-in-brazil-what-to-expect/
Author : Jeff Kerr
Publish date : 2024-09-04 17:47:31
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