The NFL has made massive strides in expanding its product to international markets via regular-season games hosted all over the globe. It has become a very polarizing topic among fans and so it seems to be among players as well. ESPN put out a piece on a recent NFLPA survey, in which the Pittsburgh Steelers got low marks once again by players and one player who spoke anonymously talked about what they believed is the NFL's policy on how travel works for those international games.
“I think if they're going to have us travel to the other side of the world to produce them some money, then I think they should do us the common courtesy to letting us stay the whole week so we can at least experience the place that we're traveling to," the player said.
"Y'all want us to make so much money for y'all, but y'all don't care about us enough to say, 'OK, well we're going to take y'all out there, then guess what? We're going to take care of y'all.' I don't know if it's the league owners or if it's the NFL as a whole, but the NFL's always been like that. It's more about how they're viewed outwardly than how we view them inwardly.”
The reality of this situation is the NFL doesn't impose specific restrictions on players' travel so long as it doesn't overlap with rest restrictions per the CBA. Most teams fall into either early acclimation where they leave on Monday or Tuesday or more late departure for minimal disrutpion to the team's schedule.
Former head coach Mike Tomlin also did the late departure camp, so if this player had an issue, it was with the team's decision, not any nefarious league policy.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: Anonymous Steelers player calls out league for international games policy
