FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys fly to Rio de Janeiro on Thursday night to play the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday at Maracanã Stadium. Dallas is the designated home team, and the game is one of nine Cowboys home games on the 2026 schedule. The other eight are at AT&T Stadium.
Under NFL scheduling rules, every team gives up a home game for international play at least once every eight years. The AFC and NFC alternate seasons with a ninth regular-season home game, and 2026 is the NFC’s year. Teams with nine home games normally surrender one of them for an international game, and the Cowboys were in that position this season, The Dallas Morning News reported in February.
Dallas had not played outside the country since Nov. 9, 2014, when it beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 31-17 at Wembley Stadium in London. The 11-season gap that followed was the longest in the NFL, according to the Morning News. The Cowboys are 2-7-1 all time in international games, and nine of those 10 games were preseason games in Tokyo, Toronto, Mexico City, Monterrey, and London.
Jerry Jones has said that some teams kept their home games against the Cowboys from being moved abroad because Dallas is a large road draw, the Morning News reported. At the league’s spring meeting in Orlando, Fla., on May 19, owners voted to end teams’ ability to protect home games from international play. Clubs had been allowed to protect up to two games each year.
The same meeting raised the cap on league-run international games from eight to 10 beginning in 2027. The 2026 schedule has a record nine international games, played in Rio, London, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Munich, and Paris.
Jerry Jones Wanted Mexico City Before NFL Sent Dallas Cowboys To Rio
The NFL announced on Feb. 5, during Super Bowl week in San Francisco, that the Cowboys would play in Rio. Jones had wanted the game in Mexico City because of the franchise’s fan base there, the Morning News reported. Dallas holds international marketing rights in Mexico under the league’s Global Markets Program, which awards clubs overseas territories for five-year terms.
The news broke minutes after the NFL Honors red carpet opened at the Palace of Fine Arts. Jones said that night that he has had business in Brazil for 35 years, including an automobile dealership he described as the largest, which he owns with a partner.
“I look to where our fans are,” Jones said on the red carpet. “I’m excited about the Cowboys fans that we have in Brazil. I’m excited about the country of Brazil. I have a lot of business in Brazil. I have a lot of respect [for Brazil], and to be able to take our team, take the Cowboys down there and be a part of their sports is a big deal.”
The league has committed to playing at least three regular-season games in Rio over five years. Brazil has more than 36 million NFL fans, the league said. The first two regular-season games in the country were played at Corinthians Arena in São Paulo. The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Green Bay Packers 34-29 there in 2024, and the Los Angeles Chargers beat the Kansas City Chiefs 27-21 in 2025.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said that week that some of the world’s biggest cities are asking the league to bring games to them. He is also working toward a target of his own.
“I’ve said it many times, 16 games, so that every team is playing a regular season game every season,” Goodell said. “I think that’s an important mark for us to go for. I think we’re well on our way, with the desire we have from our side, but also the desire for people to have this in their communities, and some of the greatest cities in the world are asking to do this.”
Dak Prescott was on the same red carpet. He had played 10 NFL seasons, all of them in Dallas, without an international game.
“Super excited,” Prescott said. “Being 10 years in the league and I hadn’t played an international game, I’m excited for the travel. Just excited to go and play with the Cowboys across the world, just give the fans in Rio and Brazil a chance to see us in person, and just super excited for the experience.”
Dallas Cowboys Scouted Rio In March Before Baltimore Ravens Matchup Was Set
Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Friday that he feels really good about the travel plan and that the week will move fast. The planning started six months ago.
“Our operations team has been really working on it from March,” Schottenheimer said. “We sent a team in late March to head down there and look around the facility.”
In April, the NFL named Baltimore as the opponent during the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh. Jones’ statement that day pointed to a fan base in Brazil that he called growing, and to the millions watching back home.
“We’re thrilled and honored to be part of Rio’s first NFL game,” Jones explained in the statement. “Playing in the legendary Maracanã Stadium against the Ravens in front of such a passionate and growing fan base on a global stage will be very special for our team, our entire Cowboys organization and the millions watching back home and around the world.”
Sunday will be Baltimore’s third international game and its first outside London, after trips there in 2017 and 2023. Ravens coach Jesse Minter is in his first season.
The Cowboys travel 27,980 air miles this season, fourth-most in the NFL. The round trip to Rio accounts for more than 33% of that total. A nonstop flight from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport to Rio’s Galeão International Airport takes just over 10 hours.
After Sunday’s 37-20 win over the Washington Commanders, Schottenheimer said the team would spend Friday moving around in Rio after flying through the night. Players had Monday off.
“Players will be off tomorrow,” Schottenheimer explained. “It’s going to be unusual. Tuesday is Wednesday. And then we’ll finish the game plan, so we’re going to treat it like a short week. And then we’ll fly Thursday night through the night, get down there, move around a little bit Friday.”
Dallas is scheduled to practice at Ninho do Urubu, the training center of Brazilian soccer club Flamengo. The Cowboys get their first look at the Maracanã field on Saturday. The stadium holds more than 70,000 and hosted the 1950 and 2014 World Cup finals.
Heavy rain in Rio has worn the playing surface, and Jones said Tuesday that he is comfortable the field will be ready. Flamengo and Fluminense both play their home matches at Maracanã.
Dallas is 1-1 after a Week 1 loss to the New York Giants and the win over Washington. Against the Commanders, Prescott went 26-of-31 for 279 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions and set the franchise record for career touchdown passes with his 249th.
Baltimore is also 1-1. The Ravens won 28-25 when the teams last met, in Week 3 of the 2024 season at AT&T Stadium. Kickoff Sunday is 3:25 p.m. CT on CBS, and Dallas plays at the Houston Texans on Oct. 4.
