There are many things that set the Green Bay Packers apart from the rest of the league. According to NBC Sports's Peter King, one of those will soon be coming to an end.
King wrote in his Football Morning in America column on NBC Sports that the Packers are likely — maybe as soon as next season — to play a foreign game, as “the NFL is conscious of not giving a prized franchise special treatment.”
With the Carolina Panthers and the Houston Texans playing in London this year, the Packers are the only team to not play a game abroad.
The four games in the United Kingdom will include matchups between the Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Chicago Bears and Oakland Raiders, the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams and the Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars. The Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers are scheduled to play in Mexico.
The Packers have a large fanbase in the United Kingdom and elsewhere abroad, but the franchise has long maintained they’d never give up a home game to play on foreign soil. Add to that, opponents have been reluctant to give up a home game against the Packers and their well-travelling fans. It’s created a situation where the NFL can’t find a match, even with the right circumstances.
For example, the Chargers, who will host the Packers in a soccer stadium next season, weren’t willing to give up a home game against the Packers for an international game.
The NFL's “International Series” began in 2007.
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