{"id":23382,"date":"2025-05-19T01:12:59","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T01:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=23382"},"modified":"2025-05-19T01:12:59","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T01:12:59","slug":"breaking-lio%c9%b4s-veteran-calls-out-nfl-over-co%c9%b4troversial-move-thats-a-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=23382","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Lio\u0274s Veteran Calls Out NFL Over Co\u0274troversial Move: &#8216;That&#8217;s a Joke&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1294325799-e1637332180737.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1294325799-e1637332180737.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1294325799-e1637332180737.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/GettyImages-1294325799-e1637332180737.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Lions Veteran Calls Out NFL Over Controversial Move: 'That's a Joke'\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>Dan Skipper celebrates a score with the Lions in the final game of the 2021 regular season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Detroit Lions players know very well the strains of the NFL schedule, giving up their Thanksgiving every year to lead off the holiday\u2019s slate of games.<\/p>\n<p>But Lions veteran Dan Skipper believes the league\u2019s efforts to expand the game internationally are a bridge too far. The offensive lineman called out the league for the strain that international travel puts on the players, calling it a \u201cjoke\u201d that the league is expanding so aggressively overseas.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Dan Skipper Not a Fan of International Games<\/h2>\n<p>Speaking in an appearance on The Coaches Pod, Skipper said the league doesn\u2019t seem to understand \u2014 or care \u2014 about what the international games do to players. He noted that this travel is a huge undertaking for teams, suggesting that the cities picked appear random at best.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_qmbwmpjrp\">\u201cThat\u2019s a joke. \u2018Oh, we want to go play in \u2018name-X country,\u2019 throw dart at the map.\u2019 Like, what?\u201d Skipper vented. \u201cThey (the NFL) understand the logistics of this, right? We have a travel party of 200-ish people. 50 of those are going to be putting their body through the most physically demanding thing you can do, but we are going to stuff you on a plane for 18 hours, screw up your body clock, take you to a country where the food is all (expletive) up, have you play now, fly you back, lose your bye week from the logistics of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_qmbwmpjrp\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/01\/Lions_Cowboys_Football_00634-01419.jpg\" alt=\"NFL goes defends controversial Lions-Cowboys call to every team\" \/><\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_qmbwmpjrp\">The Lions have been in some international controversy. In 2011, NFL owners approved a plan for games to be played in the U.K. through 2016 with the stipulation that visiting teams could only play there once every five years.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_qmbwmpjrp\">But the league appeared to disregard this rule for the Lions, scheduling them to visit London in both the 2014 and 2015 seasons. The Lions have not played internationally since then.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_qmbwmpjrp\">The league this week announced a slate of international games for the 2024 season that starts with the Los Angeles Chargers taking on the Kansas City Chiefs in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Sept. 5. The league also has a slate of games across Europe including contests in in Dublin, Ireland; London, U.K.; Berlin, Germany; and Madrid, Spain.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_qmbwmpjrp\">Peter O\u2019Reilly, the league\u2019s executive vice president in charge of international expansion, told NFL.com that the expansion of international locations speaks to the league\u2019s \u201ccollective commitment to global growth as we continue our journey to becoming a truly global sport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_qmbwmpjrp\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/library.sportingnews.com\/styles\/crop_style_16_9_desktop\/s3\/2024-10\/USATSI_24370958.jpg?h=b1a9cdf1&amp;itok=1UFPoxln\" alt=\"Dan Campbell 4th down decisions: How successful has Lions coach been 'going  for it' in coaching career? | Sporting News Canada\" \/><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2 data-mm-id=\"_qmbwmpjrp\">Dan Skipper Not Alone in Opposing NFL\u2019s International Plans<\/h2>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_qmbwmpjrp\">Others have joined Skipper in criticizing international travel plans.\u00a0Steelers Depot reporter Matthew Marczi criticized the Steelers for their plans to travel to Ireland on Thursday prior to their game on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_qmbwmpjrp\">Marczi noted that many Steelers players criticized the team\u2019s decision to stick to that schedule in 2013, when the team traveled to London to take on the Minnesota Vikings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBack in 2013, the Vikings flew to London on Monday in preparation for their game against the Steelers,\u201d\u00a0Marczi wrote. \u201cPittsburgh flew out on Thursday and plans to do the same thing again for the Ireland game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the Steelers do, they may embarrass themselves on the Rooney\u2019s ancestral ground. Jet lag is a real thing, as is acclimating yourself to your environment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Detroit Lions veteran Dan Skipper took aim at the NFL for the league&#8217;s aggressive expansion of international games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-detroit-lions"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Lio\u0274s Veteran Calls Out NFL Over Co\u0274troversial Move: &#039;That&#039;s a Joke&#039; - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=23382\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Lio\u0274s Veteran Calls Out NFL Over Co\u0274troversial Move: &#039;That&#039;s a Joke&#039; - 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