Getty Deebo Samuel looks to turn upfield on January 29, 2023 in Philadelphia.
NFL fans, including those who cheer on the San Francisco 49ers, won’t officially plan to hit up the ticket offices until the evening of Thursday, May 11, when the league announces its 2023-24 schedule.
Advanced warning to fans of the 49ers: Lots of travel and mileage will be involved.
Per Bookies.com on Wednesday, May 10, the website unveiled just how much the Niners are going to be on the road this coming fall. Among California teams, the 49ers are going to be racking up the most miles. Furthermore, the 49ers are going to tally the second-most mileage among NFL teams. Here’s the breakdown:
Total mileage: 29,958 miles — that makes the 49ers second to NFC West rival the Seattle Seahawks who were calculated at 31,600.
Time zones: The 49ers will be totaling 36 time zones in the air, tying them with the Seahawks for most in the league.
Early Leak Revealed Highly Anticipated Rematch?
One contest 49er fans will want to know more about: when do the Niners get the Philadelphia Eagles and exact revenge on the team that not only trounced them 31-7 for the NFC title, but has engaged in constant back-and-forth banter since then.
Well, captured by 49ers Webzone on Wednesday morning, one NBC affiliate in Ohio leaked out December 3 (Week 13) at Lincoln Financial Field…which is now a deleted tweet.
Schedule leaks before the official announcement are common in the month of May. However, the leak from WTOV News 9 stated that Fox would have broadcasting rights of the NFC title game rematch indicating “the NFL has given advanced notice of a pair of marquee games that will air on Fox in 2023. The first is a rematch of the NFC championship game.”
Perhaps the game will be made official by the schedule reveal. The 49ers-Eagles matchup has grown more compelling and intense off comments made by Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel — both 49ers implying they believed S.F. was still the better team in that conference title loss but dealt with a string of injuries at quarterback.
But there’s more fuel to this growing 49ers-Eagles heated battle. Javon Hargrave will be making his highly anticipated return to Philly in the rematch. There’s also the added possibility of the Niners adding one more former Eagle in 2019 fifth-rounder Clayton Thorson, who was given a minicamp tryout via Matt Barrows of The Athletic.
Other Early Schedule Notes for 49ers
Outside of the much-intriguing NFC title game rematch, which will be the most travel miles the 49ers will tally at 5,042, the Niners will spend most of their road travel in the Eastern time zone.
Their second-longest destination will be the nation’s capitol, with 4,838 travel mileage racked up to take on the Washington Commanders. As for their fifth interconference showdown, the 49ers will head out to Jacksonville to take on the AFC South champion Jaguars, covering 4,732 miles there to North Florida.
Philly won’t be the only time the 49ers will invade the Keystone State. San Francisco, along with the rest of the NFC West, will take on the AFC North as part of their interconference contests — and that includes the road trip to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers (4,508 miles and six time zones covered). The final 4,000+ mile trip will be to Cleveland as the 49ers will tally up 4,322 aerial miles to face the Browns.
Arizona, Seattle and Minnesota round out the long-distance trips for the 49ers that will surpass the century mark for mileage. The shortest travel distance will once again be the rival Los Angeles Rams, covering just 618 miles.