NFLPA's JC Tretter raised concerns over Brazil's field conditions ahead of Cowboys-Ravens, warning the NFL's international expansion risks compromising player standards
The NFL is playing a regular-season game in Brazil this week
The NFL is playing a regular-season game in Brazil this week(Image: Getty)
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NFL Players Association executive director JC Tretter issued a lengthy statement Friday addressing field conditions ahead of Sunday's Cowboys-Ravens game at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
Tretter clarified that while the NFL union's top priority remains player health and safety, the Brazil field issues fall into a different category. "Our number one priority is the health and safety of our players," Tretter wrote on X. "The concern heading into this week was that the field would be loose, patchy, and lead to excessive slipping. Those conditions are generally more of a playability and performance issue than a significant injury concern."
He added that performance quality still matters even when safety risk is lower. "But safety isn't the only standard. Players should be able to perform at the level they expect of themselves and that fans expect from them.” It comes as the city has seen records amount of rain in the days leading up to the event.
He added: “A thin, slick field may not present the same risks as a surface with too much traction, but it still affects performance and the quality of the game."
According to Tretter, both NFLPA and league field experts have been on the ground in Brazil for days working to address the surface issues.
"Based on our experts' assessment, the field needed better traction and stability," he wrote. "They recommended reinforced stitching to help the surface hold together and brought in equipment to reinforce as much of the field as possible before the game. Our experts will remain engaged and continue evaluating conditions through kickoff."
Tretter used the situation to highlight what he described as two larger, ongoing concerns. The first centers on the NFL's broader field-quality standards league-wide, referencing last week's extreme heat issues in Nashville that reportedly melted players' cleats.
"We can't have surfaces that melt players' cleats, like we saw in Nashville last week. We can't have frozen fields that create unnecessary risks. The best athletes in the world should be playing on surfaces that meet the same standard of excellence we expect from them every week."
The second concern relates directly to the league's international expansion plans, with Tretter noting that two of the three NFL games previously played in Brazil have experienced field-related problems, including a 2024 matchup between the Eagles and Packers in São Paulo.
The NFL played a regular-season game in Brazil during the 2025 season
The NFL played a regular-season game in Brazil during the 2025 season(Image: Getty)
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"That's not a coincidence," Tretter wrote. "This time of year makes it extremely challenging to maintain the kind of grass surface we expect at the NFL level."
NFL field director Nick Pappas had earlier expressed confidence in the league's preparation efforts, telling The Athletic the Rio venue showed visible signs of regular use but was no different than domestic fields dealing with wear by Week 3.
Tretter closed his statement by directly tying the field concerns to the league's stated ambitions of expanding to 16 international games annually, one for each team, a plan that would require negotiation with the players' union under the current collective bargaining agreement, which currently caps international games at 10 per season without NFLPA approval.
"The NFL has been clear they want to continue to grow the game internationally," Tretter wrote. "However, growth alone cannot be the goal. The goal has to be growing the game while maintaining the standards our players deserve. If we can't do both, then we need to make different decisions."