The annual spring owners meetings are next week, and as always, there will be a handful of new rules proposals to consider for the teams. One interesting one was noted by SI's Albert Breer:Â "No team will be scheduled to play more than three away games with a scheduled kickoff time prior to 1:00 p.m. in the time zone of their home stadium (without consent)."
The proposal was created by three teams, all of which are (obviously) in the West: The Cardinals, Chargers and 49ers.
This has long been a point of contention for teams on this side of the country. It's always a 10 a.m. kickoff for California teams (or the Seahawks) when they play a 1 p.m. game in the Eastern time zone. The Cards catch a minor break after daylight savings kicks in, since later in the season those kickoffs would mean 11 a.m. Arizona time as opposed to the 10 a.m. they face earlier in the year.
Regardless, it's never been something that's ideal. Last season, the Cardinals had four games kick off at 10 a.m. Arizona time (although to be fair, one was a London game that was 6 p.m. local time after the Cards were there a week), and two more that kicked off at 11 a.m. The rule would have been a big deal if three of those games would have had to have made their kickoffs later. The Cardinals started the first two games of the season last year at 10 a.m. Arizona time, in Detroit and Indianapolis.
This year, the Cards' away games are the three in-division, and then games at Kansas City, L.A. Chargers, Green Bay, Minnesota and Atlanta. While K.C., Green Bay and Minnesota are in the Central time zone, they would still fall under this situation given that a noon start would be in the early window. The Cards have done that more than once, especially when the Rams were in St. Louis. If the rule passed, at least one of those games would have to be a late kickoff. Whether the proposal will pass or not is another thing entirely.