The NFL decides to schedule their marquis London game at 9:30 EDT. But 2 of the biggest EPL games of the season are on the same day. In fact the Liverpool derby will run from 8:30 - 10:30 followed immediately by Arsenal - ManU at 11:00.
I’m not a marketing expert, but that would seem to be the least optimal time to schedule an NFL game if they are really trying to capture more British fans (or even fans in most other countries). As an American living in the NY area, and a huge NFL fan (albeit a Steelers fan), even I’ll be skipping the NFL game to watch the EPL games.
It would shock me if they didn’t know about them. Of course, there are probably EPL games every Sunday around this time, and the NFL needs to schedule these games around their own schedule, not the schedule of a different league.
It almost certainly did happen then, and over a sustained period of time. Whether Brady knew is a matter of debate notwithstanding the preponderance of the evidence being against him. But the “equipment violation” happened, and the NFL reacted to it in a poor fashion.
Over an international break weekend, when no European team games are scheduled. There’s actually one next weekend, when all the top European leagues simultaneously schedule breaks so that players can play qualifying or friendly matches for their countries. These are typically played on weekdays during the 2 week break, so next weekend probably would have been perfect (unless there’s something else scheduled in London that I’m not aware of).
Or… Making it a night game in London since the EPL games are finished by the afternoon.
Point is, if you’re going through the trouble of forcing 2 teams to drag their players across an ocean for 1 game, presumably for the purpose of attracting European sports fans, wouldn’t it make sense to schedule the game at a time that a local sports fan could actually be watching Or attending?
Even dumber is that this is a huge rivalry, and scheduling the game in London at 930am EST really fucks over the fans of both teams, including those who would have liked to buy tickets to see the game in their home stadium. Of course, the NFL has proven time and time again it does not care about fans, just the almighty dollar.