Packers Make Unusual Scheduling Request to NFL for Early 2020

The Green Bay Packers have made a pair of unusual requests to the NFL when it comes to putting together the 2020 season schedule: Two consecutive home games, please.

According to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, Packers president Mark Murphy said during the NFL combine the team has requested to be away from Lambeau Field for the last weekend in September and the first weekend in October to avoid conflicts with other nearby sporting events.

The first request is for the Packers to go on the road during the Ryder Cup, which is scheduled for Sept. 25-27 at the Whistling Straits Golf Course near Sheboygan. The other would accommodate Notre Dame hosting Wisconsin at Lambeau Field on Oct. 3 in a special-venue matchup that will also feature a game played at Soldier Field during the 2021 season.

If both requests were granted, the Packers would spend both Week 3 and Week 4 on the road during the 2020 season.

The schedule isn’t expected to be released until mid-April, but the Packers already know which opponents they will play on the road next season: the Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts and San Francisco 49ers. The Packers will also host each of their three NFC North rivals as well as the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans and Philadelphia Eagles.

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NFL Receives Plenty of Scheduling Requests

While no other teams have talked publicly about making scheduling requests this offseason, don’t be surprised if more teams appeal to the NFL regarding next year’s slate of games.

Putting together an NFL season schedule for all 32 teams is no easy task, especially with more incorporation of international games in recent seasons. The Jacksonville Jaguars will become the first NFL team to play two international games in a single season when they travel to London for back-to-back home games in the upcoming season. There is also the matter of the NFL potentially expanding the season to 17 games, adding yet another wrinkle to the scheduling responsibilities.

Three seasons ago, CBS Sports took a look at some of the scheduling requests NFL teams were submitting ahead of the league’s official release for the 2017 season. The Packers weren’t among them, but here are some of the examples of 2017 requests that were accommodated:

• The Oakland Raiders requested to play back-to-back road games against opponents out east, hoping to avoid flying home after the game. The NFL obliged, scheduling consecutive road games for the Raiders against the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins in Weeks 8 and 9. The Raiders also asked to avoid traveling two time zones to Kansas City for a Thursday Night Football matchup after doing so the season before. The NFL gave the Raiders a home TNF game against the Chiefs in Week 7 to solve the conflict.
• The Lions complained about playing too many road games in the early parts of their seasons prior to 2017 with three or four often coming in the first several weeks of the season. As a result, the NFL scheduled three home games for the Lions in their first five weeks in 2017. Ironically, the Lions lost two of those three games at home and prevailed in each of their first two road games.
• The Cincinnati Bengals made perhaps the most reasonable request of them all, asking to open their 2017 season at home for the first time since 2009. Yes, that’s right — Andy Dalton and A.J. Green didn’t open a season with a home game until just three years ago. The Bengals got what they wanted, just not the right result with the Baltimore Ravens shutting them out 20-0 at home.

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