NFL Player Open to Playing for Saudi Arabia Team: 'That's Far as F--k, but Whatever' | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors
Daniel Santos Most voters polled in The Athletic's latest anonymous players survey would not want to play for an NFL team overseas. However, at least one player is willing to go to Saudi Arabia in hopes of raking in cash.
The Athletic relayed the remarks alongside a reminder of the league's salary-cap rules, which would prevent anyone from theoretically making more than any stateside player on a franchise's payroll.
"Hell yeah! Because overseas they're gonna pay that money," said one player. "Think about a team in Saudi Arabia. I know that's far as f--k, but whatever. Think about Saudi Arabia and the soccer players. They're giving out billions of dollars, so hell yeah I'll play in Saudi Arabia."
The NFL isn't going to Saudi Arabia any time soon and probably not ever, although there have been frequent murmurings about the possibility of a team overseas, most notably in London.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell went on the record last year saying that he believes London can support two NFL franchises, but he also noted that there are concerns about a competitive standpoint.
"The question I think is going to come down to, not so much the logistics about travel, that's clearly a challenge, it really comes down to whether you can do it competitively, where the team here or the teams in the States coming over can continue to be competitive and that was the challenge when we did the regular-season games," Goodell said in part, per Cameron Hogwood of Sky Sports.