Green Bay Packers president Mark Murphy said at the league meetings in Phoenix, Ariz. on Tuesday that they are in discussions with the Oakland Raiders about playing a preseason game in Canada this fall.
“Still kind of up in the air. But it’s a possibility that we would either play most likely in Saskatchewan or Winnipeg,” Murphy said, via the team’s website.
The Raiders being interested in playing a preseason game in Canada was previously known. It would be a Raiders home game should the exhibition game come together. A preseason game played in Canada would mean one fewer game played on a field with infield dirt in August as well.
Rogers Centre in Toronto played host to several games – exhibition and regular season – featuring the Buffalo Bills from 2008-2013. BC Place in Vancouver was the last stadium outside Toronto to host an NFL game of any kind as the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers met in the 1998 preseason.
The Packers last played preseason games outside the United States over two decades ago. They faced the Buffalo Bills in Toronto in 1997 before traveling to Tokyo, Japan to face the Kansas City Chiefs in 1998.