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Sao Paulo beefs up security for Philadelphia Eagles-Green Bay Packers Brazil game as players raise concerns
Sao Paulo state’s government said it will deploy hundreds of police officers and provide escorts for team buses for Friday’s NFL game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers after some players expressed concern about playing in Brazil.
Security operations for the game in Sao Paulo’s NeoQuimica Arena will be coordinated with U.S. authorities, the state’s public security secretariat said in a statement Wednesday. Gun violence and crime rates in Brazil are among the highest in the Latin America. Metropolitan Sao Paulo has also faced a wave of cellphone thefts.
RELATED: Philadelphia Eagles QB Tanner McKee spent 21 months in Brazil. Here’s what he told his teammates.
Hundreds of civilian and military police will be deployed for the game, the first NFL match to be played in the South American country, according to the statement. Military police will be used to escort the teams’ buses to their hotels, training grounds and to the stadium.
“Our policing will be beefed up during the week to secure the public’s safety for this historic match, with officers on the streets and avenues around the stadium, in public transportation, in the hotels and in tourist areas of the city,” the security secretariat said.
Earlier this week, Eagles cornerback Darius Slay said in a podcast he did not want to go to Brazil because of the country’s crime rate. AJ Brown, a wide receiver of the same team, told said he will probably stay in his hotel room throughout his time in Sao Paulo. Other players expressed similar concerns.
On Saturday, San Francisco 49ers rookie receiver Ricky Pearsall was shot in the chest during an attempted robbery in central San Francisco.
Sao Paulo state’s government said it will also send trained dogs to the stadium before the match to detect potential explosive devices that could put fans or players in danger. Helicopters and drones will also be used.
Sao Paulo police will have a station inside the stadium to support women who are victims of violence.
United Airlines doesn’t have any bad blood with Taylor Swift, quite the contrary, as the pop star is driving up demand for its flights.
At a travel industry conference Wednesday, United said it has seen a 25% uptick in demand for flights on weekends during which Swift has held concerts abroad. Swift is having a similar effect on domestic travel too, Andrew Nocella, the airline’s EVP and chief commercial officer, added.
Swift is an economic force of her own, driving up spending and boosting the local economies wherever she performs. Market research firm QuestionPro estimated that all told, her Eras Tour could help add $5 billion to the global economy.
While United hasn’t added flights expressly for Swift’s concerts, at least one other airline has.
Budget carrier Southwest this summer said it was adding flights to accommodate strong demand for travel to Swift’s performances in Miami and New Orleans in October.
“Following strong demand from last year’s U.S. tour, the airline is adding more than 10 flights to its schedule to help Swifties get to and from her concerts,” the airline said in a statement to CBS News.
— CBS News’ Kathryn Krupnik contributed to this report
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Pearl Jam is one of the world’s biggest, well-respected rock groups. Now, in a rare extensive interview with correspondent Anthony Mason, Eddie Vedder and bass player Jeff Ament open up about the band’s founding, being together for nearly 35 years, their latest album, and more for “CBS Sunday Morning,” to be broadcast Sunday, September 22 on CBS and streamed on Paramount+.
Mason caught up with Pearl Jam while on tour for a revealing, personal look, in which Vedder and Ament talk about their childhoods, making music together, their dedicated fan base, being on tour, growing older, and their friendship.
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Watch the excerpt in the video player above featuring Vedder talking about writing lyrics while surfing to an instrumental tape sent to him by a group of Seattle musicians, and bassist Jeff Ament’s reaction when he heard them:
EDDIE VEDDER: I was doing those midnight shifts security. So, when I went for a surf in the morning … I remember it being super foggy and one of those days where you think, ‘Maybe I won’t go out.’ … But I had the music in my head, the instrumental, and just kind of wrote it. And then, I was still wet when I hit ‘record.’
ANTHONY MASON: When you heard what he sent back, what did you think?
JEFF AMENT: I listened to it. And then I remember I left and went and got a coffee, and then I came back, and I listened to it again. … And then I remember calling Stone [Gossard] and I said, ‘You need to come over here right now.’
Ament, and guitarists Stone Gossard, and Mike McCready flew Vedder up to Seattle to audition.
VEDDER: It was just, I was like, you felt it. Like, you were like, ‘Oh, this is what it is. Like, this is heaven.'”
You can stream Pearl Jam’s latest album, “Dark Matter,” by clicking on the embed below (Free Spotify registration required to hear the tracks in full):
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