Singer, songwriter, ticket resale opponent (unless he’s got a piece of it), and occasional Game of Thrones cameo bard, Ed Sheeran can add a new line to his resume: NFL schedule disrupter.
After lighting Australia and New Zealand on fire (figuratively) with a record-breaking set of dates, Ed Sheeran coming to North America in late summer and early fall, performing in stadiums. That’s causing headaches for some of the primary tenants of those stadiums, who are having to consider the erstwhile troubadour’s dates as they plot their 2018 seasons.
According to NFL reporter Chris Burke, “here are the times this season that a team probably will not be able to play at home because of an Ed Sheeran concert:
Week 1: Lions
Week 2: Patriots
Week 3: Giants/Jets
Week 5: Titans
Week 6: Chiefs
Week 7: Vikings
Week 8: Cowboys
Week 10: Falcons
Taking a look at Ed Sheeran’s touring schedule, it checks out – he has a Saturday, September 8 date at Ford Field in Detroit, plays Gillette Stadium in Foxborough on Friday and Saturday the following weekend, MetLife Friday and Saturday the weekend after, and so on… Many have pointed out that Sheeran’s tour isn’t specifically forcing teams to play on the road for the weekends in question – only that the production will definitely need to be taken into account (as well as its load-in and load-out times) when schedules are being made.
Because it was a chance to poke fun, and it was on twitter, the mention of Sheeran’s potential effect on the upcoming season led to more than a few barbs being tossed out there by fans.
Joking aside, this is something that will likely be more and more of an issue as venues and promoters try to continually up the ante on maximizing revenue from their buildings by adding concerts. MLB stadiums are hosting record numbers of events over the summer, and tours including Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Jay-Z’s On The Run II are all pushing major stadium runs this summer. In fact, some will likely cause similar frustration for teams looking to schedule things out…
