Philadelphia-based WIP-FM's Howard Eskin cited sources as saying that the Eagles will play the Vikings "to open season Thursday night September 6th in Philadelphia." The game marks rematch of the NFC Championship (TWITTER.com, 3/19). This will be the "first time since the league moved the 'NFL Kickoff Game' to Thursday" in '02 that the Eagles will play in it (NJ.com, 3/19). It would "mark the second time this decade the Vikings have opened the season on Thursday on the road against the defending Super Bowl champion." The Vikings in '10 lost to the Saints after losing to them in OT in the NFC Championship the prior season (TWINCITIES.com, 3/19).
MAYBE ONE DAY: Pro Football HOFer Emmitt Smith said of diversity within the NFL, "The biggest challenge for achieving more diversity is that not enough African-Americans have the capital to own a team." Smith: "I think that some African-Americans obviously have knowledge about playing the game of football. Most NFL owners today have never really played the sport. They've done great in business; they know how to run a company. So maybe more athletes have to go out and show the world that we know how to run a company, too. I think that's where we're at. Someday I hope to go in as a true owner. I want to be like Mark Cuban. I want to buy my own team, run my own thing down the road" (DALLASNEWS.com, 3/17).
TALE OF TWO SIDES: THE UNDEFEATED's Jemele Hill noted Buccaneers co-Chair Ed Glazer last week hosted a fundraising event for President Trump at his Beverly Hills home, and the event could be called a "blatant, unadulterated hypocrisy." In a meeting in October, NFL owners "seemed to be convinced that the player' political outspokenness ... was harmful to the league's bottom line."Hill: "But throwing a luxurious fundraiser for the president who slandered your players, and continually takes shots at your league? All good. Why is that Glazer's financial support of Trump isn't considered as detrimental to the league's bottom line as the protests?" The political motives of players are "always under scrutiny." Hill: The owners? Almost never. We have two sets of rules here" (THEUNDEFEATED.com, 3/16).
