For a multi-billion dollar outfit like the NFL, it seems like it’d be small potatoes to make sure its flagship studio show appeared at the freaking Super Bowl.

But that apparently wasn’t the case, at least for Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas last year. Appearing on The Main Event with Andrew Marchand podcast earlier this week, Good Morning Football host Peter Schrager discussed how, inexplicably, the NFL’s own television network did not send its popular morning show to Sin City last year for “cost-cutting” reasons.

“I was humbled and flattened a little bit last year in what I still think is a questionable cost-cutting measure [by NFL Network],” Schrager began. “We were told a week or two in advance that Good Morning Football from NFL Network was not going to be sent to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. And I said, ‘Well, that’s the first time I’ve missed a Super Bowl in 18 years… We’re an Emmy-winning show… We’re going to have no presence?’ ‘No, you guys will do it from New York.’

“I was flattened,” Schrager continued. “I could tell you, I was crushed. It was as humbling and as sobering a piece of news- and I made my case. I said, ‘Not only does it help our show, but it helps me for [the NFL] combine, helps me for draft.’ It’s all about work. It’s not about me going to parties.

“I paid my own way Friday after Good Morning Football last year. Not that this is some noble thing. A lot of people do it. But to think at 20 years into my career that I’m like, I’m not missing the commissioner’s party. It’s an important event for me. It’s where all the NFL owners go. I get the invite every year. The commissioner’s there. It’s probably the most influential room of the calendar year. It’s Friday night at the Super Bowl. I bought my own flight. I was happy enough, someone that I know let me crash in their hotel room. I’m a 42-year old man.

“I left and I took a flight back and I said, ‘I was in Vegas for 18 hours. And if I ever get the opportunity to go back to a Super Bowl, I’m going to make the most of it, the entire experience.’ And in that case, I learned you can’t rely on any of these employers. You can’t rely on some executive doing you a solid. You got to do your own thing.”

It’s pretty astonishing that one of NFL Network’s most prominent talents had to pay his own way to last year’s Super Bowl. This season, Good Morning Football‘s Jamie Erdahl was on-site in New Orleans, though the rest of the cast continued to appear remotely from various locations across the country.

Schrager, who also moonlights as an NFL insider at Fox, didn’t have to worry about paying his own way to New Orleans this year with Fox airing the big game. His story, however, confirms much of what has been reported about NFL Media recently. From moving Good Morning Football from New York to Los Angeles, to laying off several prominent reporters, and canceling a long-running show, it’s clear that the NFL is pinching pennies when it comes to its television arm.

And with recent reports indicating that the NFL has reengaged ESPN about a sale of its media assets, it’s no secret what value the league puts on NFL Network. But hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth certainly makes that sentiment hit home even more.