NFL has a plan to avoid another woeful Thursday Night Football schedule
Thursday Night Football last season had some less-than-enticing games. Now, NFL owners are set to vote on a plan that could fix that issue.
Last season, Amazon Prime Video became the official home for Thursday Night Football, and the games that were featured were, well, less-than-enticing.
From the Indianapolis Colts 12-9 win over the Denver Broncos in Week 5 to the Washington Commanders 12-7 victory over the Chicago Bears the week after to the Jacksonville Jaguars decisively defeating the New York Jets 19-3 in Week 16, there were rough stretches of games on Thursday nights that caused quite the complaints from fans who were watching.
But could that all change?
According to Ben Fischer and John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal, NFL owners are expected to vote on a flex scheduling plan for Thursday Night Football games late in the season. Not just that, but the vote would “relax limits on the number of games each team can play on short rest each season.”
NFL owners voting on Thursday Night Football flex scheduling
The specific plan would allow the league to move Sunday afternoon games to Thursday night through Week 14-17, but on 15 days notice. That, and “schedule teams for Thursday games after a previous Sunday game twice in the same season, up from the current limit of once.”
This would undoubtedly allow the league to flex in a game that features two teams that are in playoff contention.
During Super Bowl 57 week, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell hinted at a flexing plan for Thursday Night Football. Now, there is a specific plan that owners will vote on at the league meetings from March 26-29 in Phoenix, Ariz.
There is already a flexing plan in place for Monday Night Football beginning in 2023, which allows games to be moved between Weeks 14 and 18.
NFL fans are going to be waiting to see if this plan gets approved, or if it just misses out on the votes needed for it to pass.
