NFL Rivals Hope To Learn From Rams Disastrous Performance After Last-Minute International Travel

As the NFL expands the number of international games and hints at establishing a permanent foreign-based team, the league is learning more about the effects of travel on team performance.The first National Football League regular-season game in Australia between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers, which was played Friday morning local time, provided a contrast in travel plans.The 49ers chose to travel a week early to adjust to the 17-hour time difference. The Rams flew out at the last minute and arrived at Melbourne about 24 hours before the game.The Rams — betting favorites to win this season’s Super Bowl — looked sluggish and jet-lagged as the time-adjusted 49ers dominated the game, winning 27-7. Even so, the Rams’ head coach, Sean McVay, would not blame travel decisions for the loss. “I don’t believe that’s why we didn’t play well enough,” he told reporters after the game. “I really don’t. I’m more than comfortable with that.“I make no excuses and, you know, whether you want to say it’s about travel, whatever, we just weren’t good enough,” he added.But other teams were watching the performance closely in an effort to shape their own plans. The NFL has already contracted to play games in Melbourne for the next three years. The results of the first game are likely to push most teams into making earlier travel arrangements for future overseas games.The NFL has been dabbling with international games for 20 years, but the number is growing and long travel is becoming more of an issue for teams. The league is playing a record nine international games on four continents this year: Games are scheduled at Mexico City, London, Paris, Munich, Madrid, and Rio de Janeiro — with teams facing 10-12 hour flights to Brazil.The slate of overseas games will jump to 10 contests next year and the NFL’s commissioner, Roger Goodell has hinted at eventually expanding to 16 games.Mr. Goodell says it is likely that at least one NFL team will eventually be foreign-based. “At some point, there will be NFL teams outside the USA. I have no doubt that this will happen one day,” he said in an interview with German broadcaster RTL/ntv. Mr. Goodell added that a Super Bowl could end up being hosted in a foreign city.An foreign-based team could face eight to nine away games with long travel involved. It would also mean more America-based teams with yearly international travel.The NFL’s growth is slowing in America and the league has sought to expand internationally in an effort to attract new fans and grow the sport into a global rival to soccer. International broadcasting rights could add billions of dollars to the league’s revenues.

NFL Rivals Hope To Learn From Rams Disastrous Performance After Last-Minute International Travel

NFL Rivals Hope To Learn From Rams Disastrous Performance After Last-Minute International Travel

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