As a player, Aaron Rodgers loves early games on Sundays.
“In the league, you dream about playing at noon (Central time) because the schedule is a little bit better on the body and you get to get home and relax,” the Green Bay Packers quarterback said during a Wednesday press conference.
But as a kid, Rodgers never even got to watch them.
“I was at church,” he said, noting that he could only watch afternoon and prime-time games.
This situation likely sounds familiar to other football fans who regularly go to church. In the Mountain and Pacific time zones, in particular, the NFL’s early games often conflict with worship services.
At larger house of worships that offer multiple services each week, people may have no problem balancing their religious and sports-related obligations. For example, a season-ticket holding Tennessee Titans fan once told The Tennessean that he chose to attend the earliest service on Sundays when the Titans played at home in the early slot.
“They give us four options to make sure that we can fit it in our schedule,” said Jason Daniels to The Tennessean. “It’s one of the benefits to being a bigger church.”
But other NFL fans don’t have as many options. They have to rely on replays of the game (and do whatever they can to avoid spoilers.)
“I think we can all thank the Lord for ... TiVo,” said the Rev. Casey Cramer, another Titans fan, to The Tennessean.
On rare occasions, churches of all sizes disrupt their typical routines to appease football-loving attendees.
Just last week, Algoma Boulevard United Methodist Church decided to build its Sunday service around the Packers’ London game and only do religious activities at halftime and during commercial breaks.
“Our hope is that this reminds people God is present in every part of our lives, and we can worship and watch the Packer game, we can live with God’s presence with us in every part of our lives,” said the Rev. Cathy Weigand, who leads the church, to Fox 11 News.