While much of the attention of this week's NFL owners meetings falls on the long-awaited vote on whether to ban the tush push, the league will also make an important determination on the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
With flag football set to become an Olympic sport for the upcoming Summer Games, a number of NFL players have expressed interest in playing for their country.
The Olympics present an incredible opportunity for a form of American football to reach a global audience, something that is very attractive to the league and many of its owners. Others are not so keen on their star players risking injury during a non-NFL event in the summer.
At least 24 NFL owners—the number necessary for the league to pass a rule change—are expected to vote to allow players to participate according to a Tuesday ESPN report. However, it is far from unanimous, and one high-level decision maker from the team pitching the tush push ban also doesn't want to see his players get hurt playing flag football.
"I think overall, [flag football as an Olympic event is] a great thing," Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst told ESPN. "I'd love it if we kept the NFL players out of it."
The league vote is just the first step in making NFL players Olympians for the first time. It would allow for negotiations to open with the NFL Players Association and the various Olympic bodies to make it a reality.
The proposal also acknowledges the injury risk, with injury protection and salary-cap relief for injured players, as well as guarantees about NFL-level medical staffs and playing surfaces included. The league's players would also have to beat out more experienced flag football players for spots on the team, something even Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin says is no guarantee.
"There's some subtle differences between tackle football and flag football, and I'm not going to assume that tackle football players are the very best option, to be quite honest with you," he told ESPN.
Based on the ESPN report, Gutekunst and the Packers will have to hold out hope that the differences between the tackle and flag games are big enough to overcome the sheer athletic talent that NFL players could provide Team USA.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Packers GM Has One Major Concern About Olympic Flag Football.