The rich history of the Green Bay Packers organization is evident in the behavior of today’s fans. As the winner of the first two Super Bowls, and the home of the coach who is the namesake of the trophy, Green Bay’s tentacles spread across this country.
When owners came to the table to vote on proposed rule changes last week, eight teams decided against a change that would allow the NFL to flex Thursday Night Football games. For the above reasons, Green Bay was one of those eight.
“A ton of fans both follow them on the road and make bucket-list pilgrimages to Lambeau Field for games.” Said Peter King of MMQB. “And the #Packers felt it unfair to have potentially thousands of fans be stuck with travel issues should a game be moved from Sunday to Thursday, or vice versa.”
This is right in line with how Mark Murphy discussed his concerns about the proposed rule change in his monthly Q&A on Packers.com.
“The league has allowed flexible scheduling for Sunday Night Football for many years now, but moving a game from Sunday afternoon to Sunday night is a lot different than moving a Sunday game up to Thursday for the reasons you note,” Murphy wrote. “Moreover, we will allow flexing for Monday night games this year for the first time, so we don’t know what issues may arise from this change. I believe that we do need to consider the fans in the stands, and how this would affect them – especially since so many of our fans travel a good distance to come to Lambeau Field and stay in hotels.”
As a member of a multi generational Packer fan family the organization’s response is perfect. I understand the money to be made. The NFL needs to consider and respect the amount of money and time diehard fans spend to experience their league . There are families all over this country that scrap and save up just to go to a game. The devastating effects of those people losing out on their experience is, in my humble opinion, not worth the financial growth that comes with flexing games. Obviously I am not a billionaire owner. Minimalizing the leagues financial potential could be looked at as silly. I certainly can understand that. But I can only speak from a fan’s perspective. And it seems the Packers are attempting to do the same.
This is all in addition to the concerns of the players. Routine is important in the NFL. The ability to flex Thursday night games could quickly become a safety concern.
The proposal seems to make sense in just one one way and no sense in so many other ways. That’s why Giants owner John Mara called it “abusive.
