Todd Gurley seemed to speak for all NFL players in 2017, when the Los Angeles Rams star lamented the fact his team was playing a regular-season game in London. Not only does travel time serve as a major nuisance for teams playing across the pond, but so does the playing environment, one completely unlike any the NFL has to offer. But not all players, apparently, share Gurley's sentiment about playing in the United Kingdom. Take for example Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers.
Before the Super Bowl, Aaron Rodgers expressed abject disappointment that the Packers weren't taking part in the four games to be played in London next season.
“I’ve made my feelings known about how I want to get over there,” Rodgers said, per Jacob Bogage of The Washington Post. “Our president has made it known.
“We’re not going to give up a home game because we’re sold out for the next 30 years, and nobody wants to give up a home game when we come to town,” he continued. “Hopefully at some point the league will intervene and make us go there because we all want to go there.”
It seems Rodgers has a point about the Packers' popularity precluding them from playing overseas. Every team in the NFL except Green Bay will have played at least one game in London after next season. The league began the practice of having an annual London showcase in 2007, and has played multiple games there since 2013.
Though most players don't share Rodgers' sentiment, that hardly matters to the league given the games' popularity. All three contests played in London last season were sellouts, and organizers evened up additional seating to accommodate fans in the Philadelphia Eagles' 24-18 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
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