The Packers accept the fact that the NFL won’t host a Super Bowl at Lambeau Field. And since the Packers won’t host a Super Bowl at Lambeau Field, they won’t have to automatically sacrifice a home game to the league’s ongoing overseas obsession.
Thus, via SportsBusiness Daily, Packers CEO Mark Murphy told shareholders on Monday that the team will “never” make that swap.
The league office eventually could disagree. Even if the usual suspects continue to be the ones who give up home games for games in Europe, Mexico, or elsewhere, the league’s ongoing expansion of the international games could make a squeezing of the Packers and other teams supposedly immune from the obligation vulnerable.
Or maybe the league will offer the Packers some other sort of deal in exchange for a home game. Without knowing what the offer would be, it’s impossible to know that the Packers would refuse it.
So while “never” may draw cheers from the shareholders/fans who were at Lambeau Field on Monday (it did), “never” is the kind of commitment that it will be hard for Murphy to honor.
Of course, he only has to honor it for as long as he’s the CEO.