Cheese Curds, 3/24: For Aaron Rodgers, the truth is out there

[Da-news-now]

Green Bay's two-time MVP says he saw a UFO over a decade ago.

Let's jump right in: Do you believe in aliens? If so, then you might be Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who claims to have seen a UFO in 2005 with Cal teammate Steve Levy and one of his brothers.

The truth is out there.

Aaron Rodgers talks aliens, religion on Pete Holmes' podcast | Milwaukee Record

"It was a large orange, left-to-right-moving object. Because of the overcast nature of the night and the snow, you couldn't make out—it was kind of behind the clouds we were seeing, but it was definitively large, moving from left to right. It was me, Steve [Levy], and his brother that saw it. And it goes out of sight and we look at each other and go 'What in the [redacted] was that?'"

Good question.

Packers opposed to playing in China, still open to London | 247 Sports

The NFL plans to play a regular-season game in China in 2018, the latest part of the league's international outreach initiative. Packers president Mark Murphy explained Wednesday that the team has no interest in participating in an event so far from home. However, the team could see itself in London. In either case, Green Bay doesn't care to lose a home game to the international series.

Packers say Jordy Nelson 'ahead of schedule' on ACL recovery | ESPN

Head coach Mike McCarthy reiterated Wednesday what the team has said for the better part of the offseason: Jordy Nelson hasn't endured any setbacks in his recovery from his knee reconstruction and should return to action soon.

Mike McCarthy wants to boost pass rush, get more sacks | Milwaukee journal-Sentinel


The Packers took a huge step in generating pressure in 2015, their best season defensively in quite some time. Still, McCarthy and his staff see room for improvement, and that could come from better utilization of the players already on the roster and those that could join during next month's draft.

[BCOLOR=#FFC20E]Jason B. Hirschhorn is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and covers the NFL for Sports on Earth and SB Nation. He also serves as the senior writer and editor for Acme Packing Company, a Green Bay Packers blog.
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[Frozen Tundra]

Packers opposed to playing in China, still open to London | 247 Sports

The NFL plans to play a regular-season game in China in 2018, the latest part of the league's international outreach initiative. Packers president Mark Murphy explained Wednesday that the team has no interest in participating in an event so far from home. However, the team could see itself in London. In either case, Green Bay doesn't care to lose a home game to the international series.

I hope they stand fast on that. I'm disgusted with these overseas games. If i had season tickets for a team that lost a home game to one of those damned things, I'd be furious.

 

[salmar80]

I hope they stand fast on that. I'm disgusted with these overseas games. If i had season tickets for a team that lost a home game to one of those damned things, I'd be furious.

I am a foreigner, and would love to go support the Packers in London or Berlin.

But I tend to think American Football is fundamentally not a sport made for export.

The main thing is the number of games on the schedule. Just 16 regular season games. 8 per home team.

Playing a game or two abroad is no biggie in the NHL, NBA or MLB. Losing one home game is next to nothing in those leagues. In the NFL, it hurts, since meaningful games are so rare.

If I wanted to spread the sport abroad, I'd give away the foreign broadcast rights for next to nothing. I'd fly in national commentators and school them. Produce free-to-use graphics and data for national broadcasts. I'd produce videos explaining the basics and also way more advanced stuff about the game. Publish that on YouTube in as many languages as I could. I'd play up any national ties of players. All that I could to make games played on US soil as attractive to foreign networks and for TV watchers to follow as possible.

 

[FlaPack]

I am a foreigner, and would love to go support the Packers in London or Berlin.

But I tend to think American Football is fundamentally not a sport made for export.

The main thing is the number of games on the schedule. Just 16 regular season games. 8 per home team.

Playing a game or two abroad is no biggie in the NHL, NBA or MLB. Losing one home game is next to nothing in those leagues. In the NFL, it hurts, since meaningful games are so rare.

If I wanted to spread the sport abroad, I'd give away the foreign broadcast rights for next to nothing. I'd fly in national commentators and school them. Produce free-to-use graphics and data for national broadcasts. I'd produce videos explaining the basics and also way more advanced stuff about the game. Publish that on YouTube in as many languages as I could. I'd play up any national ties of players. All that I could to make games played on US soil as attractive to foreign networks and for TV watchers to follow as possible.

No professiona sports league will give away rights fees. Domestic of foreign for free or next to nothing. Never. Right now the NFL domestic market is close to tapped out. If I'm not mistaken Sky Sports pays an NFL rights fee thru News Corp.

 

[Pugger]

There is one market the league could make a few dollars domestically. Instead of Direct TV how about pay-per-view for out of market games? I would LOVE to get all the Packers games here and not have to pay for teams/games that I don't care to. MLB Extra Innings is available and we get it but if I want Brewer games here I have to pay for the entire package and get every game from every team televised. And if the Brewers are playing on the road I am stuck with the home announcers. sick( Some of them are okay but others are the worst. I heard Extra Innings might change to pay-per-view too.

 

[FlaPack]

There is one market the league could make a few dollars domestically. Instead of Direct TV how about pay-per-view for out of market games? I would LOVE to get all the Packers games here and not have to pay for teams/games that I don't care to. MLB Extra Innings is available and we get it but if I want Brewer games here I have to pay for the entire package and get every game from every team televised. And if the Brewers are playing on the road I am stuck with the home announcers. sick( Some of them are okay but others are the worst. I heard Extra Innings might change to pay-per-view too.

NFL and PPV were discussed in concept a few years ago. NBC Universal / Comcast was in discussions but DIRECTV won out. Too many logistics issues. Multiple cable subs and cost. It's not as simply as it sounds

 

[salmar80]

No professiona sports league will give away rights fees. Domestic of foreign for free or next to nothing. Never. Right now the NFL domestic market is close to tapped out. If I'm not mistaken Sky Sports pays an NFL rights fee thru News Corp.

Surely not entirely for free, but considering even Finnish TV (6M people market with just a handful of football fans) can afford to show some games, I doubt the league's asking the moon...

Despite that, there's really no affordable and good (legal) way for someone getting into the sport to watch the games here. NFL ain't gonna get more fans if those who are interested can't see it!

The games shown on telly are on costly extra channel packages (200-300€ per year), and you get like 6 random games a week along with a lot of filler sports - I want football, my team's games, not bloody synchronized swimming!

Like Pug alluded, online streaming would be by far the best way to offer the sport on a platter to foreign football fans. They need to be able to watch at their convenience, since late games are played in the middle of the night in European time. Early games are in equally nasty hours in Asia.

The NFL already offers an excellent Game Pass streaming service (I don't think it's available in the States), but the pricing is terribly high if the aim is to spread the sport: 195€ last season if you wanted to see the playoffs. It's bearable for a hardcore fan like me, but no casual fan or someone wanting to just try it out is gonna pay that.

 

[eyecatcher]

The NFL already offers an excellent Game Pass streaming service (I don't think it's available in the States), but the pricing is terribly high if the aim is to spread the sport: 195€ last season if you wanted to see the playoffs. It's bearable for a hardcore fan like me, but no casual fan or someone wanting to just try it out is gonna pay that.

It is available here but you can't watch a game until they are over if I remember correctly

 

[FlaPack]

Surely not entirely for free, but considering even Finnish TV (6M people market with just a handful of football fans) can afford to show some games, I doubt the league's asking the moon...

Despite that, there's really no affordable and good (legal) way for someone getting into the sport to watch the games here. NFL ain't gonna get more fans if those who are interested can't see it!

The games shown on telly are on costly extra channel packages (200-300€ per year), and you get like 6 random games a week along with a lot of filler sports - I want football, my team's games, not bloody synchronized swimming!

Like Pug alluded, online streaming would be by far the best way to offer the sport on a platter to foreign football fans. They need to be able to watch at their convenience, since late games are played in the middle of the night in European time. Early games are in equally nasty hours in Asia.

The NFL already offers an excellent Game Pass streaming service (I don't think it's available in the States), but the pricing is terribly high if the aim is to spread the sport: 195€ last season if you wanted to see the playoffs. It's bearable for a hardcore fan like me, but no casual fan or someone wanting to just try it out is gonna pay that.

Streaming is coming but it won't be free. Rights fees for the 1 game on Yahoo was $15m. Ad rates were in the $100k range. Do the math. A long way off. The Thursday night streaming righrs will be telling.

 

[salmar80]

Streaming is coming but it won't be free. Rights fees for the 1 game on Yahoo was $15m. Ad rates were in the $100k range. Do the math. A long way off. The Thursday night streaming righrs will be telling.

True, but there are ways to have very different rates for those watching abroad. And to have localized ads for obviously waaaay lower rates. Heck, I currently get my ads in Finnish on NFL.com videos.

If the NFL really is serious about spreading the game, I'd give a 50-75% discount on streamed games for foreign audiences. Even at a small loss at first. (Great Britain may have to be an exception, due to the Sky Sports deal.)

I've often shown games to my friends, and many have been interested. But they have no good way to watch it on their own, so that interest dies and they move on. Frustrating, but nothing I can do about it.