The Los Angeles Chargers kick off their season with an international game in Brazil during Week 1. Normally, teams that play abroad get the luxury of a home game the following week to recover and regroup. But not the Chargers. Nope — they have to hit the road right after landing.
So, why did the NFL throw the Bolts a curveball so early in the season? Well, Chargers fans, you can point the finger at none other than Chris Brown.
NFL Vice President Mike North, who is in charge of scheduling all the games for the season, usually prefers to give teams a home game after an international trip out of consideration. Travel and time differences can be grueling for players. But this season, North had to make an exception for the Chargers.
You see, Chris Brown had already booked SoFi Stadium in advance for a concert, and the event takes place on a Sunday, making it impossible to schedule the stadium for the Chargers. North explained the situation further on the Rich Eisen Show.
“I think the most interesting one: Chris Brown,” North shared. “Chris Brown has SoFi in LA Week 2. He booked that months ago, before we booked the Chargers to go to Brazil… There’s no BYE in Week 2. So, hey Chargers, [we’re] happy to bring you back to a home game after Brazil like we did for the Eagles and the Packers. But your building is blocked!”
North said he would eventually find a location for the Chargers to play in Week 2, but it wouldn’t be SoFi. He and the scheduling team, therefore, decided to give the club the best option they could offer: a road game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
A plane trip from LA to Vegas is only a little over an hour long. All things considered, North and the team did a good enough job working around the problem. But they probably should’ve checked whether SoFi would be available for the Chargers in Week 2 before scheduling them internationally for Week 1.
Additionally, North said the matchup with the Raiders almost didn’t work out because Allegiant Stadium was hosting a boxing match and a UNLV football game that weekend. So, they had to agree on a Monday Night Football game instead.
All in all, there’s more that goes into scheduling NFL contests than simply drafting matchups on paper. TV companies, broadcasters, and musical artists like Brown and Billy Joel all have to coordinate their schedules accordingly. North’s explanation gave us a fun little peek behind the curtain.
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