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ORLANDO — The NFL has a clear vision of what its ideal regular season looks like. And like a pound-and-ground offense that keeps churning downfield, one 5-yard run after another, the end zone is now within reach.
The league’s nirvana is an 18-game regular season and one international game for each of its 32 franchises. It will be a few years before that happens, and the players and their union will ultimately have a say in all this, but the seeds haven’t just been planted; they are taking root.
A clear example was the amendment NFL owners approved this week that raises the maximum number of international games each season from eight to 10.
In addition, owners voted to remove a scheduling mechanism that enabled each team to protect two games from international consideration. This year, for instance,the 49erswanted their home game againstthe Raidersto be played at Levi’s Stadium rather than in Mexico City.
As a result, the Raiders will make their first regular-season trip to the Bay Area and the 49ers will host the Vikings at Estadio Banorte.
At first glance, it might not seem like a significant shift. After all, the NFL will play nine international games this year, in part because the Jaguars are playing two games in London during the renovation of their home stadium in Jacksonville.
But it’s far more layered than just adding two more games to the international docket. It’s laying the groundwork for what the NFL eventually wants to build as it continues to expand its international interests.
Short of actually putting a team overseas, either through relocation or expansion, the NFL wants to create a season-long international presence by playing one overseas game each week.
Before you ask the obvious, if not the rhetorical question of why, it’s clearly about money.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
