“You’re on the sideline with them during the game, you’re in the locker room before the game, and after the game. So that’s kind of a pinch me moment.”
Adam Newman, director of team logistics for the Denver Broncos, dived into what it takes to move an NFL team from place to place, even overseas, and the best moments of his 24-year career with them.
If a fan followed him for a week, Newman spoke about how they’d be surprised by how much work goes into a three-hour American football game.
“Just how much detail and behind-the-scenes work goes into getting a team from Denver to wherever we’re playing and back. You know, people just turn on TV every Sunday, and they’re like, ‘Oh, there’s the team,’ but there is a ton of stuff that goes into getting a team to the city we’re playing in.
“The hotels, rooming lists, player floors and security. And we don’t just walk in the front door, we walk in, back of house or side entrances, and go up back of house elevators, making sure the meals are good to go, working with our nutritionist on that.”
This season, the Broncos were one of the teams that played an overseas game. They faced the New York Jets with a 13-11 victory. But what no one bats an eye at is how the teams get from point A to point B.
“People have no idea what goes into moving a team from city to city, you know, especially going overseas. And that’s just a huge lift on a lot of people in this organisation or any team that goes really. People just don’t see that, so they don’t quite understand what goes into it, the planning,” said Newman.
What one might not realise, even talk about, is all the paperwork that a team must complete before they even think of leaving the US. Plane tickets, visas, hotel reservations, it takes a whole village to move a team.
“Definitely more involved than just a normal road trip in the US [to go to the UK]. I mean, we had to do it; we had to get the electronic visas for everyone this year, which I never had to do before. So that was a big challenge just because the UK government would only allow three or four at a time on one credit card.
“It took us forever and a bunch of different company and personal credit cards here just to get them, get everyone taken care of, getting passports for everyone. That’s a challenge, getting everyone to bring in the correct paperwork,” he admitted.
Even though the season is over and the full schedules for the 26-27 NFL season don’t come out until May, teams must start preparing for the next season by doing research on everything they will need.
“I know where we’re playing next year, just don’t know when. So I’ll start researching hotels and where other teams have stayed in these cities, and kind of get like a list going. You know, potential hotels to stay in and bus companies, equipment truck companies, what police escorts to use, I’ll compile that in different spreadsheets, and I’ll work on that,” mentioned Newman.
Even though there’s a lot of travel involved, and getting to know new stadiums and countries, Newman shared what is the best part of his job.
“Just being a part of the team. I know we go to the home games, we’re at the hotel the night before the game, the day of the game, we travel with the team, where you’re kind of in there, you deal with all the highs and lows, like the players and coaches do and you really feel a part of it.”
