The "Field of Dreams" game probably couldn't have gone any better for Major League Baseball. MLB built it, and they came — "they" being a whole lot of viewers, a ton of positive publicity and an idea that has since bloomed into tens of hundreds of others on social media.
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But the ideas of a movie-based tribute game aren't limited to just the baseball diamond. On Tuesday morning, "Good Morning Football" host and Fox Sports writer Peter Schrager had an idea about how the NFL could pay homage to a great football movie that immediately resonated with fans. Schrager, like the rest of us, was really impressed with how the "Field of Dreams" game was pulled off, but he thinks the NFL can execute something similar that's even bigger.
"Now, how can the NFL 'NFL-ify' this thing? Like, how can we do it our way and really blow this out of the water?" Schrager said. "...Midseason next year, regular season game, Cowboys versus the Chiefs — who used to be in Dallas — 'Friday Night Lights' game at Permian High School in Odessa, Texas."
Schrager makes a good point about the Chiefs' history, as they were the Dallas Texans (and won the 1962 AFL Championship) before they were relocated to Kansas City. And like the White Sox and Yankees, both teams have several young stars that hold a whole lot of name recognition, like the aforementioned Mahomes and Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, Tyreek Hill and others. It would promise to be a game with a fair amount of offense, should it occur in one of the next few years, and unlike the Cubs-Reds "Field of Dreams" game in 2022, it appears that both teams would be competitive and have something to play for.
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Though the NFL's Pro Football Hall of Fame Game to kick off the preseason held in Canton, Ohio might may suffice in bringing the highest level of competition to a small-ish American city, Odessa could be an even more football-obsessed location.
"I love Canton, and I could probably be booted off the network for even saying this, [but] I'm good with Canton for the time being. Let's go to high school football," Schrager said. "I love the nostalgia for the Hall of Fame, it's a lovely thing, but 'Friday Night Lights?' Cowboys-Chiefs, Mahomes and Dak? Commissioner Goodell, I don't address you often. If we can make this happen — Texas football on a Friday night, put NFL players on there, keep the stands as they are, 20,000 in the stands — I am so here for it.
"I think we can go 'Friday Night Lights' and take 'Field of Dreams' and say, 'Oh, thank you for that inspiration, we're going to take it one step further.' "
Of course, there are a number of movies — "Remember the Titans" and "The Blind Side" among them — with ties to high school football that could also serve as great jumping-off points for the NFL to get creative, inspirational and all that good stuff in introducing special events into the schedule. We'll see if anything is in store.
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