Let’s start with Week 1 in Brazil. Why were the Chargers tabbed to play in São Paulo?
“Sure. Our international team does a great job of managing the clubs. And when we went to the 17-game season, the years when a conference has the extra home game, the ninth home game, once in a eight-year cycle every team would go play internationally as the designated team. We’re managing through that cycle, it’s an AFC year and there’s a handful of teams that have not done this as the designated team. The Chargers were on the table and eligible to go to Brazil but it’s always a conversation with the club. The Chargers are a playoff team with star power who have good matchups, good opponents this year. It’s a little bit at the discretion of the teams the Chargers protect but it made sense for us.”
And why were the Chiefs selected as the Week 1 opponent?
“That was a natural fit. There were other options we considered, but pretty quickly it was going to work out. It’s a really attractive matchup in a weekend of a lot of big matchups, big divisional games. You put that on an international stage and on YouTube, on a Friday night, and we’re pretty excited about it.”
Most teams usually get a bye or a home game after playing internationally. The Chargers are on the road in Las Vegas in Week 2. How did it fall that way?
“100 percent, we look to bring a team home after an international trip. Obviously, you’re not going to have a bye in Week 2, but the problem was that SoFi [Stadium] was booked with a concert. There was a challenge there so we were trying to get them as close a road game as possible. The Raiders also had a block [a boxing match] but it’s really only over Saturday and Sunday so we were able to free up Monday night. It’s a road game but a close game coming back from Brazil, so overall a pretty solid outcome with the extra day of rest.”
Overall, if you include the Brazil game, the Chargers are in five standalone games. What does the NFL like about the Bolts to put them in that many primetime games?
“Look, we like the team, we like that they’re in the playoffs. They’re on an upward trajectory and [Justin] Herbert is one of our marquee quarterbacks. He’s still got that leap to make so we’re always looking for that. Obviously, it’s Year 2 of Jim Harbaugh and we really want to see his program and what he’s put into it. We are doing this post-draft so there’s some draft picks we feel like can be impactful. And then the other piece is the opponents. We talked about the first two, but if you look at those games, there’s the Eagles, the Vikings, the Steelers [at home]. Those are all really good matchups, all playoff teams playing each other. We have a lot of primetime games and a lot of windows to populate. When you have a team like the Chargers that can hold their own, you feel great about the opportunity to put them in there.”