It is official: The NFL has lost its mind

The NFL made an announcement Tuesday about the NFL season opening game, which features the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles will be playing their first game of the season in Sao Palo, Brazil, at the Corinthians Arena, their first mistake.

The game featuring the Eagles will be on a Friday night, Sept. 6, 2024. The first time in over 50 years that the season opener will be on that day. The NFL mistake No. 2.

The season opener featuring the popular Philadelphia Eagles will not be available on national TV. It will air ONLY on Peacock, the paid streaming service of NBC. Strike three, NFL.

Photo via Rainer Puster

Let us talk about going to Brazil for the first game of the season for the Eagles.

After having a brutal summer training camp, the Eagles will prepare and fly over 3,500 miles on a 12-hour flight, go through a time change and end up in a foreign country with additional security, play in a stadium that no one in the NFL has played on, and the Eagles have yet to know who their opponent will be.

The cuisine is different, routines are different, and the adjustment is significant, much more so than when the Eagles have an away game in any part of the states.

Photo by Rafaela Biazi on Unspalsh

The Eagles are pros at adapting and the weather should be OK and there are no significant altitude problems that they will face but kicking off your season in Brazil will not give Philadelphia the best optimum chance to win the game.

One of the main reasons the NFL does not air their games on Friday is because that is the lowest-rated night for TV viewership.

The other reason is that the NFL wanted to respect the Friday Night Lights and let the millions of high school football games compete and fill the stands on that night and not compete with NFL audiences, which would dig into those high school games.

Photo by Will Colavito on Unsplash

The most ridiculous move was to make the Philadelphia Eagles season opener only available on Peacock. The NFL pats themselves on the back because of the Kansas City Chiefs/ Miami Dolphins wild card game that scored fairly good ratings and aired on Peacock. They think that a Friday night opening game in Brazil will do the same.

I would be shocked if it is close.

People are tired of having to pay subscription after subscription to watch the NFL. The NFL has become less focused on the fans and more concerned about the tons of cash that they are raking in. I have said it before: The rights fees to the NFL are out of hand and will dry up as advertisers will eventually not want to keep supporting entities that don’t give them the reach that they are paying for.

Photo by Adrian Curiel on Unsplash

The good news for local Philadelphia Eagles fans is that the game will be carried on a local Philadelphia channel.

The rest of us in New Jersey and New York who want to see the game will have to cave in to a Peacock subscription just to watch. Not me!