Packers-Raiders preseason game in Winnipeg
The Oakland Raiders announced Wednesday that their preseason game against the Green Bay Packers on Aug. 22 will be played in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The game will be played at IG Field, the home stadium of the CFL's Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET at the 33,000-seat stadium.
"We are thrilled to welcome both the Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers to IG Field this summer," Blue Bombers president and CEO Wade Miller said in a statement. "We look forward to NFL and CFL fans alike joining us this August for this special sporting event at IG Field as we showcase our great stadium and the city's passion for the sport of football."
The Raiders in 2019 will become the first NFL team to play three games in three different countries in the same season, as the team will also host the Chicago Bears on Oct. 6 at Tottenham Stadium in London.
The game will be the Raiders' first game in Canada.
With the preseason game in Winnipeg and the regular-season game in London, the Raiders are now scheduled to play just eight games in Oakland in what is scheduled to be their final season in the East Bay. The team is scheduled to start play in Las Vegas in 2020.
The Packers are still the only team that hasn't played a regular-season game as part of the international series, but they're looking forward to their preseason trip abroad.
"I'm excited about it," quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. "I have not been to Winnipeg before, but I am a fan of the CFL because a former teammate of ours, Mike Reilly, has long dominated the CFL. Now, he just switched teams. He was with Edmonton for a long time."
"I'm excited to get up there. It's fun to travel with the squad to a different country. We still haven't been to England yet, but hopefully this doesn't count as our out-of-the-country trip, because I think a lot of us would still like to go to England. But it's fun. The popularity of the NFL is worldwide, and I was in Paris this offseason and went to a Packer bar. So, that just kind of shows you the reach of the NFL. I'm sure there's a bunch of Packer fans up there, because they're everywhere."
