At the NFL meetings a couple of weeks ago, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said, ‘There’s not much benefit’ to playing overseas:
“I don’t see any pro. I mean, it’s cool. It’s cool for the league to play globally. I think that’s awesome. But, um, as far as the team doing it, you know, it’s..no, there’s not much benefit to it. Sometimes, it’s nice to get a bye week after. But it doesn’t happen Week 1.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell addressed those comments on Friday:
I said it yesterday,
coaches have a focus on winning. That’s their No. 1 job. Coach Shanahan is enthusiastic and a great football coach, but also someone who truly understands the importance of expanding our game globally.
But his job is to win. His job is to play. I always say coaches like to play at 1 o’clock and 4 o’clock, and don’t get in the way of that. We’re going to make it a great experience for the team. That’s one of the things everybody here, and so many others, have focused on. Make it a great experience for everyone, the team included. When they go back, they gotta make sure they can continue the competitiveness. And they’ll go on to Week 2 right after this.
The 49ers have played in primetime on Monday in Week 1 (2024), in the afternoon slot on Sunday (2025), or in the morning time slot (2023). But this is a different challenge. The players’ body clocks should be well-adjusted by the time the game kicks off locally, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any jet lag leading up to it. Goodell addressed the question of jet lag:
You know, I have an app for it, which I’m going to send to him. My wife hooked me up with an app, and I gotta tell you, I feel great. I have not felt any jet lag at all. We’ve been here since Tuesday morning, and I thought it was a relatively easy trip.
Problem solved. All the 49ers players and coaches need to do is download the app, and it’ll be like they’re playing at Levi’s Stadium.
