Originally Posted by : NFL owners to vote to start flexing 'Thursday Night Football' games for 2023, per report
"Thursday Night Football" may have more compelling games on its schedule next season. NFL owners will be asked during next week's league meetings to approve a flex plan for Thursday night games that go into effect for the 2023 season, according to the Sports Business Journal.
The main purpose of passing the flex plan would be to eliminate Thursday night games between losing teams. If the plan passes, the NFL would be permitted to shift Sunday afternoon games to Thursday night from weeks 14-17 with 15 days notice. The league would also be permitted to schedule teams for Thursday night games after a previous Sunday game on two occasions. Currently, a team can only play one game on Thursday night after playing a Sunday night game.
While there is optimism that the proposal will pass, there are reasons to believe that it could be voted down by the owners. NFL coaches, for one, are not fans of schedule changes, especially during the season. Safety also becomes a concern as teams could be asked to play more games on short weeks.
Amazon's first season with "Thursday Night Football" drew an average viewership of 9.6 million, according to Neilsen. While that is a solid number, it was a 46 percent decline from the previous season when Thursday night games were broadcast on Fox and NFL Network. Games that did not have significant playoff implications may have contributed to the decline in viewership.
There's also the issue of fans who purchase tickets well in advance of their game. The possibility of more games being flexed may cause more hesitation from fans who are considering purchasing tickets ahead of the game they plan on attending.
For a proposal to pass, it must receive 75 percent of the vote, meaning that 24 of the NFL's 32 owners must vote in favor of the proposal. Given the NFL's commitment to generating revenue, the safe bet is that the owners will pass the proposal, even if it goes against the wishes of coaches, players and fans.
Originally Posted by wazu:
Jerry Jones providing some insight into their thinking.
On the Thursday night flex issue, #Cowboys owner Jerry Jones agrees that fan impact is an important issue — but also points out only 7% of NFL fans have ever been in a stadium. Like Fox getting a TV package in the 90s, important to make Amazon deal work as best it can.
So only 7% of NFL fans actually attend games and the league's emphasis is on satisfying their media partners and maximizing the broadcast experience now more than ever... and yet that won't stop teams from asking tax payers to help fund billions of $$$'s in new stadium construction.
What I find interesting is on the Kelce podcast both of them love Thursday night games because they get lighter practices leading up to it and they see it as a mini bye week for the week after. Makes me wonder if the NFLPA is really against it or not if other players feel the same way as the Kelce brothers. [Reply]
Originally Posted by KCChiefsFan88:
So only 7% of NFL fans actually attend games and the league's emphasis is on satisfying their media partners and maximizing the broadcast experience now more than ever... and yet that won't stop teams from asking tax payers to help fund billions of $$$'s in new stadium construction.
Interesting.
TV contracts are THE most important thing to the NFL. [Reply]
Originally Posted by KCChiefsFan88:
So only 7% of NFL fans actually attend games and the league's emphasis is on satisfying their media partners and maximizing the broadcast experience now more than ever... and yet that won't stop teams from asking tax payers to help fund billions of $$$'s in new stadium construction.
Interesting.
Remember that in order to watch it on Amazon you have to pay for an ever increasing Prime membership as well. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
Or you can be a pirate..
And stunts like that are why piracy will get worse. They are forcing people to do it as they are getting tired of paying all these different services money to watch football when it used to be free. I have Prime anyways for other reasons besides football, so it doesn't impact me, but if I didn't have Prime I sure wouldn't get it just for TNF. I doubt many others would sign up for Prime just for TNF [Reply]
Originally Posted by tredadda:
And stunts like that are why piracy will get worse. They are forcing people to do it as they are getting tired of paying all these different services money to watch football when it used to be free. I have Prime anyways for other reasons besides football, so it doesn't impact me, but if I didn't have Prime I sure wouldn't get it just for TNF. I doubt many others would sign up for Prime just for TNF
Comcast is ending the free peacock shit so I'll have to pirate that one. [Reply]
Originally Posted by CapsLockKey:
What I find interesting is on the Kelce podcast both of them love Thursday night games because they get lighter practices leading up to it and they see it as a mini bye week for the week after. Makes me wonder if the NFLPA is really against it or not if other players feel the same way as the Kelce brothers.
I am sure that a lot more players feel that way. Makes sense. Three days of recovery from Sunday game to Thursday game and 3-4 days off completely away from facility.
Chiefs almost always win their Thursday games, home or away, and probably do not have to show up until Tuesday. [Reply]
Originally Posted by wazu:
Jerry Jones providing some insight into their thinking.
On the Thursday night flex issue, #Cowboys owner Jerry Jones agrees that fan impact is an important issue — but also points out only 7% of NFL fans have ever been in a stadium. Like Fox getting a TV package in the 90s, important to make Amazon deal work as best it can.
The secondary ticket market in 2023, gives fans a way to minimize the financial loss. Any game flexed to Thursday is very likely to be a high demand game and 28 days gives away fans a chance to plan to go to game.
Any game flexed from Thursday is likely to be a low demand game.
It is a lot different now than it was years ago when "scalping" or reselling was illegal. [Reply]