John Middlecoff

And we already know the opening game, Niners-Rams, is on Thursday because they're playing in Australia that's 75 hours away, which makes no sense to me.

But the NFL and the owners are obsessed with going international, even if you have to go to a place where you have to kick off there locally at 10 a.m.

But, hey, they know more about the business of international fans and revenue than I do.

And I understand the U.K.

games.

because it's very easy to take teams from the eastern seaboard flying five hours.

If Seattle plays the Carolina Panthers or the New York Giants play the LA Rams, the flight to wherever they're going is five-plus hours.

It happens on Monday Night Football all the time.

The Rams played the Atlanta Falcons in that Monday Night Football game.

Well, by the time the game ends, by the time they leave there, it's a pain in the ass, especially when it's a little easier going east to west.

It's harder to go west to east.

If you're like the Giants or the Jets or the Pats or the Panthers or Tampa, and you're playing the Chargers or you're playing the Raiders or you're playing Seattle or the Niners on Monday night football or even Sunday night football, what time do you think these guys are laying back in their bed?

6 a.m.

the next day?

I mean, it's a pain.

So the NFL, and this is Belichick, has always pushed back against this.

You have people in the league offices that just don't give a shit about any of this because they've never ran a team, they've never coached a team, most of them didn't play.

So they don't care.

Their prerogative and their goal, which is what their job is, is to generate the most amount of money and get the most amount of interest humanly possible, and clearly they've done a good job.

But we know the Niners are playing the Rams in Australia.