The NFL and its team owners are not in favor of Aaron Rodgers’ proposal to concentrate all international games within a single week. This suggestion, put forward by Rodgers, lacks support according to Front Office Sports. A source mentioned that condensing these games would lead to competition among themselves. Rodgers’ idea surfaced when he discussed the potential for 32 teams to play internationally during the same week.
The source further dismissed Rodgers’ belief that this concept was considered during the 2020 Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations with the NFL Players Association. “That’s bizarre,” the source commented. “I’m quite sure we never talked about a 16-game season with two byes and 16 international games in one week.”
Rodgers shared his thoughts after leading the Pittsburgh Steelers to victory over the New Orleans Saints in France. He suggested that having all NFL teams play internationally during one week, paired with an additional bye week, could have been beneficial. He remarked, “There was talk about doing a week – an international week – where you had games in 16 different places, and you just added an extra bye week.”
Rodgers believed such a schedule would have positively impacted the game. He noted owners’ interest in adding a 17th game for more revenue and player safety, though he thought the international week plan would have been preferable.
This year, the NFL has scheduled nine international games spanning nine different weeks. The next game will feature the Cincinnati Bengals facing the Atlanta Falcons in Spain on November 8.
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