I have a contact in the National Football League office that I have the utmost respect for … and we are at odds on the value of the league’s International Games. For me, the contests played in Europe and other faraway places seem like a waste of air travel and quite frankly, from a handicapping perspective, a pain in the ass. Contests across the pond routinely start at 6:30 a.m. Las Vegas time, before most sports books are even open.
This year, the NFL has expanded its International schedule to nine games, which includes every Sunday in October. Three games are scheduled for London, with additional far away sights for teams to meet in Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Madrid, Munich and Mexico City.
A couple years ago, while voicing my objection to the International schedule I sighted the travel distance for a team and the untenable thought of actually having an NFL team calling a European site their home. It seemed logical to me that the International Games are a mistake.
My friend in the league office, Skylar Burg, who is as bright as a sunrise in Hawaii and travels with NFL administrators to these far-away games, totally disagrees with my opinion. She recently emphasized to me the new markets opening up for the NFL worldwide and the additional revenue the league grosses not only with sold out foreign stadiums but the spike in novelty sales.
From a business standpoint, I think you’d be better off siding with Skylar. She has the intelligence, personality and focus that may well lead to her being the first female NFL Commissioner. She has grown up around sports, her highly respected father, Rich Burg, spent ten years serving in the media department with the Philadelphia Eagles and since 2013 has served at Temple University and is currently Assistant Athletic Director of Football Operations
Skylar, in her mid-twenties, speaks fondly of the years as a youngster she would accompany her father at his workplace. A few years ago she earned her degree from Temple before serving in the front offices of the Los Angeles Rams and Kansas City Chiefs before moving onto the league office. For the record, the year she interned with the Rams they won the Super Bowl, and the following season while on the Chiefs staff they won Super Bowl LVII.
If you get the idea that Skylar is a winner, you’ve got the right picture.
So, when I find myself on the opposite side of an issue from her regarding the NFL I take pause. I like the odds of her being right.
But, as much as I roll around the International situation, I find myself surrendered to the fact that the NFL is going to follow the additional revenue while sending NFL teams out of the country to play their games. More revenue for the league is always what’s deemed best for the teams.
But while the league counts their money, consider this, the San Francisco 49ers are playing two games this year not in their opponents home site but in Australia and Mexico. A west coast team is routinely prepared to put in more air miles than teams located in the east. But the 49ers travel distance this season is the highest any team has ever faced when scheduled for 38,105 miles in the sky. If the players were getting frequent flyer credits it might be more palpable … they aren’t.
What does this do to the chances of Kyle Shanahan’s team overcoming this travel obstacle while playing out of likely the strongest division in the league?
It can’t help.
Their projected strongest competition in their NFC West Division is the Los Angeles Rams, who will log the second highest number of air travel while traveling 34,847 miles, including that Melbourne journey where they meet the 49ers to open their season on September 10. In addition to battling the talented Rams in division play, the 49ers also have to contend with the current Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks.
Last season, the Carolina Panthers were a surprise team in the NFL while gaining a playoff berth out of the NFC South Division. They weren’t a dominant team, needing the Atlanta Falcons to beat the New Orleans Saints on the final day of the season to clinch that postseason date. Still, they outdistanced those two division opponents and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win their division.
This year, they will travel the fewest miles to complete their 2026 regular season road schedule. The Panthers travel schedule totals 8,740 miles. Will the 49ers need to travel nearly 30,000 miles more than Carolina this season make a difference?
It can’t help the 49ers chances.
This is another reason why I think the International Games are a detriment to the league. But Miss Burg is arguably smarter than me, and she loves the International Games. I won’t be offended if you take her side … I’m sticking with mine.