Passports and phrasebooks were supposed to top the packing list for the NFL’s first-ever game in France, not security briefings. With violent unrest rattling Paris just days before Sunday’s Pittsburgh Steelers-New Orleans Saints game at Stade de France, Ben Roethlisberger weighed in as the league pushes ahead with its plans for a historic game in France.
Ben Roethlisberger Chimes In on Steelers-Saints in Paris
Steelers legend Ben Roethlisberger weighed in with a simple message on his “Footbahlin” podcast, looking ahead to Week 7: “Let’s hope everything goes well. Let’s hope everyone stays safe (and) everyone over there is safe.”
His words come as the NFL stands firm on playing the game as scheduled, with kickoff set for 9:30 a.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 25. However, that stance has already drawn a pointed question from much closer to the Steelers’ locker room.
Dani Watt, T.J. Watt’s wife and a former NWSL player, has more reason than most to keep tabs on the news out of France.
Her husband and his teammates are due to travel to the French capital later this week for the Week 7 matchup in Saint-Denis. The Saints are already settled in, staying just outside the city center on the outskirts of Versailles, according to Fox.
On Monday, Oct. 19, she shared a CBS Pittsburgh graphic to her Instagram Stories that read, “The NFL says it is continuing forward with plans for the upcoming Steelers-Saints game amid unrest in Paris.” Rather than let the graphic speak for itself, she chose to add a question of her own over the top: “Tell me how this one makes sense???”
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Both Teams and the NFL Stand by Their Security Plans
Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy struck a different note that same day, saying at his press conference that he’s “obviously very aware” of the unrest before adding, “We feel like we have a really good plan, we’re aware of the situations over there and have a lot of confidence in our plan.”
For its part, the league hasn’t budged an inch, saying in a statement on Sunday, Oct. 18, “We continue to work closely with local authorities and partners on all operational and security matters. We are also providing the two clubs with regular updates. There’s been no disruption or impact at league sites.”
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The Saints are singing from the same hymn sheet, with executive Greg Bensel saying in a statement that same day, “We concur with the NFL’s statement and are planning to play the game. Members of our football operations staff and internal security team have been on the ground in France for the past few days, and there has been no disruption or impact at any of our team sites.”
Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s executive vice president of club business, international and league events, then doubled down in a briefing on Tuesday, saying that the league’s plans for the game in Paris this weekend “are moving forward as planned.”
“We’ve got confidence in the plans, both from an ops and a security standpoint,” O’Reilly added.
The unrest behind the concern has been building for weeks. It dates back to mid-September, when students and teachers at a school in the Paris suburbs walked out to demand more resources and staffing, before protests spread across the city over living costs, calls for more government action and the widening wealth gap.
At least 1,800 people were taken into custody across France during last weekend’s protests as violent groups battled police, according to CBS Pittsburgh, and Paris police put the capital region’s share at 855 on Sunday. Subsequent reporting in France put the arrest total at approximately 2,400.
Reports of looting and damage came from around Place de la République, roughly 5 miles south of Stade de France.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.