NFL Reveals Whether Cowboys-Ravens Game Could Be Moved

FRISCO, Texas — NFL field director Nick Pappas said Monday the league has “no concerns right now” about the grass at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, where the Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens play Sunday. Pappas made the comments to ESPN’s Jamison Hensley, six days before kickoff.

Relocating the game has not come up, according to Pappas, who told ESPN it is “not a conversation.” Dallas is the designated home team for the NFL’s first game in Rio de Janeiro, and kickoff is set for 3:25 p.m. CT on CBS.

League staff took over field operations at Maracanã on Monday, The Dallas Morning News reported. Flamengo, the Brazilian club that plays its home matches at Maracanã, hosted Red Bull Bragantino there Sunday in the last soccer match on the surface before the NFL game.

“Look, there’s the realities of managing any playing surface and then there’s also the realities of managing a grass playing surface that’s being used midseason,” Pappas said. “So it’s all about monitoring it. It’s all about having a plan in place and then being able to react to anything that maybe comes our way.”

“So what we’ve seen in Rio is a significant amount of rainfall, a record kind of rainfall over the last six weeks,” Pappas continued. “And that obviously poses challenges just from a management perspective, but nothing that we’re not capable of managing or prepared to take.”

Flamengo Complaints Started The Field Questions

Questions about the surface began last week, when Flamengo players criticized the field after a 1-1 draw with Independiente del Valle that sent Flamengo into the Copa Libertadores semifinals. Dallas Sports Journal first detailed those complaints. Goalkeeper Agustín Rossi was among the players who spoke that night, with English translations published by A to Z Sports.

“It’s unbelievable that we’re playing on a field like this,” Rossi said. “If you look at it, there are bumps everywhere. There’s still going to be an NFL game here during the international break. After that game, I hope the field is in better shape.”

Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Monday at The Star that he has no concerns about the grass and that the league has people at the stadium. After Dallas’ 37-20 win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday at AT&T Stadium, he had spoken with reporters about the Flamengo players’ comments.

“I’m aware of some of their quotes and stuff, but again, I trust that the league’s going to make the right decision and they’ll get the field up to standard,” Schottenheimer said.

Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones spoke about the field that same night, with Dallas at 1-1 after a 28-20 loss to the New York Giants in the opener.

“That detail I’m not up to date on,” Jones said. “I was asked about it before the game and I don’t know any more about it than I did then. We’ll look at that and I know it’s the utmost concern to the league and the teams playing down there. We’ll obviously stay informed as we look to it and it’s front of mind now that we’ve gotten past the Washington Commanders.”

Ravens Coach Jesse Minter Leaves It To The League

Both teams fly to Brazil on Thursday night and practice there Friday. Ravens coach Jesse Minter, in his first season after replacing John Harbaugh, said Baltimore has been in contact with the league about the surface.

“It’s really in the league’s hands, and I think we’ve been in contact with them,” Minter said. “They got people there, feel pretty good about it. So both teams are going to be playing there, and we’ll be ready to roll.”

Sunday marks the NFL’s third regular-season game in Brazil and its first outside São Paulo. Maracanã is the largest stadium in Brazil, with a capacity of nearly 79,000. The Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers opened the 2024 season at Arena Corinthians, where several players lost their footing and later blamed the slick surface. The league invested $1 million in the Arena Corinthians field before the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers played there in 2025.

In 2018, the NFL moved a Chiefs game against the Los Angeles Rams from Estadio Azteca in Mexico City to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum because of the field conditions. The league has committed to at least three regular-season games in Rio de Janeiro over five years.

The Cowboys are playing their first regular-season game outside the United States since facing the Jacksonville Jaguars in London in 2014. Baltimore is 1-1 after beating the Indianapolis Colts 41-23 and losing 24-17 to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. The Ravens are 6-1 all-time against Dallas and won 28-25 when the teams last met, in Week 3 of the 2024 season.