Minnesota Vikings fans were surprised when reports started breaking that they were heading overseas for the second straight season, this time to Dublin, Ireland for a “road game” against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
After they played in London, England last season, another international contest right away doesn’t usually happen (unless you’re the Jacksonville Jaguars). Thus, when rumors that the MN Vikings could actually play, not just one, but back-to-back games across the pond turned reality… heads really turned.
There are opinions on both sides — regarding whether or not two international games are a good thing for the Vikings, who will play week four in Dublin and week five in London, before getting week 6 as their bye — but the more information we get on how this overseas doubleheader came into being, the more we realize that this was just as much Vikings-driven as it was league-driven.
How did the Minnesota Vikings end up with back-to-back international games?
This week, NFL schedule-maker Mike North went on the Ross Tucker podcast where he pulled back the curtain on how it all went down. It was Roger Goodell who first broached the idea to North. He did not think there was any chance the Vikings would be interested, but he asked anyway.
To his surprise, however, Vikings leadership went from what North described as “open-minded, to willing, to kind of eager” toward the opportunity. Thus, the Minnesota Vikings and the league worked out the details together and made it happen.
“When we got into international games, I basically reached out to all the teams, and said, ‘hey Vikings, you see the schedule. You know Pittsburgh is hosting a game in Dublin. You know you are a road opponent for the Steelers this year. There’s a chance you could be chosen to go to Ireland.
Subsequent phone call: ‘Hey Vikings, you know you’re playing the Browns this year. They’re hosting a game in London. You know you’re a possible opponent to play the Browns in London this year. And it was actually commissioner Goodell who said, ‘do you think they’d want to do both?’, and I said ‘absolutely not, no chance.
But I called them and I talked to them and they went from open-minded to willing to kind of eager. And so we kind of partnered up with them, figured out a way to innovate, try something new here, and they worked with our ops team…and they’re going to spend the week over there and it’ll be a good test for us.”
NFL Scheduler – Mike North on the Ross Tucker Podcast
So there you have it. The Minnesota Vikings drove the bus on their overseas doubleheader, after Goodell floated the idea to North, who then (to his surprise) took the idea and ran with it. But who in the Vikings organization is leading the international effort?
Why Kevin O’Connell invites these overseas games
According to the Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling and Andrew Krammer, on the latest episode of the Access Vikings podcast, it’s head coach Kevin O’Connell driving Minnesota’s overseas bus plane. And there are a couple of reasons — some football-related, and some not.
First, Krammer points to something O’Connell told international reporters, when speaking to them following the league’s announcement last week. KOC likes the idea of having McCarthy’s rookie weeks four and five to be played in the friendlier confines of Croke Park (IE) and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (UK), instead of Heinz Field (Pittsburgh) and Huntington Bank Field (Cleveland).
