Aaron Rodgers hints NFL owners shut down original plans for International Week to avoid spending
· Yahoo Sports
In typical Aaron Rodgers fashion, the former MVP has put NFL owners on blast while discussing the original plan for the league’s international expansion.
Rodgers has definitely earned his reputation for being one of the most polarising, controversial, and outspoken figures in the history of the NFL.
Visit bettingx.bond for more information.
But his latest comments might draw the ire of the NFL’s top brass, as he might be revealing secrets the leadership don’t want to be known.
Aaron Rodgers claimed ‘greedy’ NFL owners pushed for 17th game over International Week
Speaking to reporters ahead of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ game against the New Orleans Saints in Paris, Aaron Rodgers addressed the NFL’s original expansion plans.
Rodgers revealed that during an earlier Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiation, the NFL considered an entire slate of international games for one week, but the owners shut it down as they wanted to play more games and didn’t want to invest more to expand internationally.
Rodgers said: “We didn’t really have a lot till the second CBA, and there was talk of doing an International Week where you had games in 16 different places and just added an extra bye week. So you would play 16 regular-season games and two bye weeks. One of those bye weeks would have been International Week.
“I think it would have been phenomenal for the game, now that the owners want to push for 17 games for the extra revenue, and because they care so much about player safety (sarcastically). It would have been nice. I think there are 16 opportunities.
“I think you could do Canada, Mexico, there have been games in Brazil, you could probably open up another country in South America, and obviously there are a lot of opportunities in Europe… Then who knows? Obviously, there’s Dubai in that area that has really taken to the sporting world in a number of ways…
“There are great opportunities for expansion, and it’ll be awesome to have an International Week, because I think it is great for the expansion of the game.
“I wish there was a mandate, though, from the league, and they would have to open up their pocketbooks too, which maybe they’re tight on money and stuff, but I think they should mandate every team coming over Sunday or Monday… But they won’t because they are tight.”
The NFL has made international expansion one of their top priorities going forward, but it is hard to understand why owners would push more for an extra game.
Any revenue they would earn from an additional game would be more in the short term, but expanding the NFL’s presence globally could secure more long-term revenue streams from outside of the United States.
Read more: