It seems Roger Goodell doesn’t want the Super Bowl to be the only NFL topic fans are talking about this week.
Today, Goodell decided to tease a potential major change to the NFL’s scheduling.
During a press conference, Goodell told reporters that it wouldn’t surprise him if the league ended up being able to flex Thursday night games like the league already does with Sunday night games.
This would be great for fans. Some of this year’s Thursday Night games were absolutely brutal to watch. The ability to switch games to something more relevant or more enjoyable would definitely improve the viewing experience for fans who want to take 3 hours out of their Thursday night to watch football.
However, this would be an awful idea for the teams and players. Playing on Thursday night is already a bad enough experience for players. They get a short week of rest and have to operate on a schedule that is very different from the routine they have in a normal week.
Throwing in extra surprise Thursday night games sounds like a punishment for the teams that are good enough for teams to want to see them in primetime.
There are also the logistics of moving a game to an entirely new day after fans have already paid for tickets to see it. Some fans who bought tickets to the Sunday game might not be able to make the Thursday game after the switch,
If the league were to actually do it, they would have to give teams plenty of notice to be able to plan around the schedule change and to give fans time to change their plans.
While it’s something fans would probably love, there is still plenty to figure out before the NFL could ever flex their Thursday night games.