Broncos owner Pat Bowlen calls the NFL’s approval of playing regular-season games outside of the United States each year an opportunity to make the league a global powerhouse.
“It’s an opportunity to reach out internationally to fans,” Bowlen said Tuesday night from New Orleans. “That’s what this is all about and I think we’re going to see it become very popular.”
The NFL, which played a game in Mexico City last season, will play two games each regular season, beginning in 2007, outside the U.S. The plan was approved by NFL owners Tuesday.
Bowlen said games likely will be played in Mexico, Canada, Germany and England. He said East Coast teams could play in Europe and Western teams could be chosen for games in Mexico and Canada. Bowlen said his preference would be to play in Mexico or Canada.
The plan is for teams to rotate over a 16-year span, with each team playing globally twice, once as a visitor and once as the home team. Each team will lose a home game during the next 16 seasons. Bowlen said teams will be compensated for lost home revenues during that period.
Bowlen said he would be open to playing in one of the international games. “If I had a preference, it would be an away game,” he said.
“Obviously the league’s going to work out the economics and if we lose a home game, we’ll get compensated,” Bowlen said. “We’re comfortable with it. Obviously we’d like to play in Mexico or Canada and not have to travel to Europe and that’s probably the way it would be set up because of our location. But as far as the league’s concerned, I think it’s a great idea.”
Life without Lepsis
The Broncos added depth to their offensive line by adding Doug Nienhuis to the practice squad. The move came after the season-ending knee injury suffered by left tackle Matt Lepsis at Cleveland on Sunday.
Nienhuis, waived from Houston’s practice squad this month, was one of the offensive linemen who worked out for Denver on Tuesday. The workouts were planned before Lepsis was injured.
While Nienhuis adds a body for practice, Denver will replace Lepsis in-house. The team continued to consider options Tuesday for Lepsis’ replacement for Sunday’s home game against Indianapolis. The options are moving right guard Cooper Carlisle to left tackle and inserting rookie Chris Kuper at right guard, having Erik Pears play left tackle or inserting Adam Meadows at left tackle.
Pears replaced Lepsis in the second quarter Sunday in his NFL debut. Meadows is able to play despite lingering shoulder issues. Carlisle and Meadows have played left tackle.
The other offensive linemen working out Tuesday were Kirk Chambers, Marco Cavka, Greg Jerman and Kevin McAlmont.
Working out
Bradlee Van Pelt worked out for Minnesota on Tuesday. The former Broncos quarterback and Colorado State star is expected to work out for Buffalo next week.
Veteran punter Todd Sauerbrun will work out for Detroit today. He worked out for Tampa Bay on Tuesday. Sauerbrun was cut by the Broncos on Oct. 10.
Footnotes
Denver defensive end Elvis Dumervil is one of five finalists for NFL rookie of the week. Dumervil had three sacks and a fumble recovery against the Browns. … The last time Denver played a team with at least a 6-0 record was the 6-0 Chargers in 1994. Denver won the game. The Colts are 6-0. … The Broncos have the longest current home regular-season winning streak in the NFL at 13 games.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Bill Williamson can be reached at 303-954-1262 or bwilliamson@denverpost.com.
