The Green Bay Packers wear green. So do the Philadelphia Eagles. They face each other in Brazil in the 2024 NFL season opener. Yes, in Brazil.
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And according to multiple reports, the color green is heavily associated with dangerous gangs in Brazil. So those reports went on to suggest that neither the Packers nor Eagles would be wearing green in the opener. Some stated it as fact.
Nonsense, the NFL said, feeling compelled to respond to those reports.
"The NFL denied that the Packers and Eagles would not be allowed to wear uniforms with green at their season-opening game Sept. 6 in Brazil because allegedly the color is affiliated with gangs there," wrote Daniel Kaplan of Front Office Sports.
But wait. There's more.
"The league also denied that the teams would be restricted to their hotels with armored vehicles taking them to the stadium," Kaplan added.
Packers running back Josh Jacobs sort of got the ball rolling on these rumors, saying on the Green Light with Chris Long podcast that "they said the part of Brazil we're going to, we can't even wear green." Jacobs cited the gangs.
"They said, we're not going to Rio," he added. "They was like, 'Man, it's one of them places where they probably won't even let us leave the hotels.'"
Long, a former NFL player himself, even played up Jacobs' comments as fact.
NFL players are being told not to wear green in Brazil for the Eagles vs Packers week 1 game
Full Josh Jacobs interview out now on @YouTubehttps://t.co/5Ri3uC6w0s pic.twitter.com/VmuivtC90l
— chris long (@JOEL9ONE) June 6, 2024
But Long wasn't alone. Several noted media outlets did the same.
Anyway, it's all systems go for the game — which will be the NFL's first Friday night game since 1970 — and that game will involve green, and lots of it.
