Thoughts OnThe Current NFL Weekly Game Schedule - Thur - Sun - Sun Night - Monday Games? (1 Viewer)

[Joe Bryant]

Asked this 6 weeks ago. Doing a new vote to see if people still feel the same.

Was thinking today how after initially resisting, I've grown to love the current weekly lineup of Thursday Night, Sunday Afternoon, Sunday Night and Monday Night for the NFL schedule. Feels like just the right pace. 

But wondering what you thought. Let's hear it. Please leave a comment for how well you like the current setup and also let us know additional thoughts. 

And to be clear, this is just about the days of the week schedule. Not that you don't like the platform for broadcasts or you can't get ESPN for MNF or your team doesn't get enough night games or stuff like that. 

Let's hear it. 

 

[-OZ-]

My only problem with Thursday games are the occasional weeks when I'm busy and forget to submit a lineup, thus either leaving a player in accidentally (our leagues automatically rollover lineups if you don't submit one) or benched a guy I would have played. That's on me of course but it doesn't happen for Sunday games. 

Overall I like it but I really don't see why the NFL couldn't make Thursday night games follow bye weeks. It would add an additional constraint but it seems manageable. 

 

[elkurzhal]

No problems with it, Thursday games sometimes are tough on teams with the short rest, and the resulting games can be less than thrilling.   Nice to have a shot at seeing out of market teams at least once a year.

I would however dump the current bye week setup.    Move the "bye" weeks by combining the week before Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving week and have everyone play once over that 2 week span.  For fantasy football we could consider it one week.   Logistically there would be enough games to cover all the TV slots and give most everyone a full national audience.

Week before Thanksgiving
Thur - 8:20 game
Sun - 2 games at 1:00, 1 game at 4:20, 1 @ 8:20
Mon - 8:20, 11:30

Thanksgiving week
Wed - 8:20 game
Thanksgiving - Noon, 4:00, 8:00
Sun - 2 games at 1:00, 1 game at 4:20, 1 @ 8:20
Mon - 8:20

16 games

 

[larry_boy_44]

No problems with it, Thursday games sometimes are tough on teams with the short rest, and the resulting games can be less than thrilling.   Nice to have a shot at seeing out of market teams at least once a year.

I would however dump the current bye week setup.    Move the "bye" weeks by combining the week before Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving week and have everyone play once over that 2 week span.  For fantasy football we could consider it one week.   Logistically there would be enough games to cover all the TV slots and give most everyone a full national audience.

Week before Thanksgiving
Thur - 8:20 game
Sun - 2 games at 1:00, 1 game at 4:20, 1 @ 8:20
Mon - 8:20, 11:30

Thanksgiving week
Wed - 8:20 game
Thanksgiving - Noon, 4:00, 8:00
Sun - 2 games at 1:00, 1 game at 4:20, 1 @ 8:20
Mon - 8:20

16 games

Along these lines, I've always thought the best way to add a game to the schedule is to add a 17th game, make it an international thing and combine it with a bye week so there is 14 days to travel, adjust, play, travel, and adjust again.

Every team gets 2 byes, one for their international game one for their normal bye. The NFL can also play games literally everywhere in the world it wants to without losing games because it has 32 "neutral site" games to send all over.

 

[Rhythmdoctor]

Hate Thursday night games. Can tolerate Monday night but would prefer to see all games on Sunday with the prime time game on Sunday night. It’s not fair to the players having to play Thursday nights after a Sunday game. Sucks for fantasy when questionable players have Thursday games or when replacement players play Thursday and your injured stud is questionable or GTD. NFL greed has reached maximum capacity and die hard fans such as myself are ready to quit this hobby/sport. I actually loathe almost everything about the NFL and only keep playing FF because I’m good at it and after 25 years, it’s more of an addiction than a love. 

 

[snogger]

Would like them go back to Sunday - Sunday Night - Monday Night..

Even if the Vikings are playing I don't tend to watch past Halftime on Thursday due to needing to get up at 5am the next morning (insert old man joke here )

And REALLY dislike this weeks Thursday, 2 Saturday, Sunday, Sunday night, Monday.. I love Football as much as the next fan, but overload is overload.

 

[iamkoza]

not a fan of thursday night football.

would request on sunday's they balance the schedule better to have even number of games in each timeslot.... would improve late start redzone quality

 

[Cowboysfan8]

I like Thursday games when my FF players do well

I hate the games when they don't

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Biggest problem to me is the distance between games. Sun-SunN-MNF is a nice progression. Which is why I like these Sat. games, it flows nice!y to the next day. Maybe switch a couple Thursday games to Friday once the local high school games are done.

 

[[scooter]]

My biggest gripe is that the Sunday afternoon timeslot has a smaller number of games to choose from. For example, last week there were 8 games in the morning slot, but only 5 games in the afternoon slot. This week it will be even worse, with just 2 games in the afternoon slot. That can make the RedZone channel unwatchable at times.

Also, I'd like to see the NFL expand the Saturday schedule and maybe even broadcast games on Fridays in December. I know that there are legal restrictions on Friday/Saturday games, but the NFL should be maximizing their exposure by scheduling more Saturday games on Weeks 16, 15 and 14 (schedule permitting). They've done a good job the past few years, but from 2008-2015 they only averaged ONE Saturday game per year.

 

[Raging weasel]

Not really a fan of Thursday night games but mostly because I'm on the east coast and can only watch until halftime. Thursday matchups usually suck.

 

[Interseptopus]

Hate Thursday night games. Can tolerate Monday night but would prefer to see all games on Sunday with the prime time game on Sunday night. It’s not fair to the players having to play Thursday nights after a Sunday game. Sucks for fantasy when questionable players have Thursday games or when replacement players play Thursday and your injured stud is questionable or GTD. NFL greed has reached maximum capacity and die hard fans such as myself are ready to quit this hobby/sport. I actually loathe almost everything about the NFL and only keep playing FF because I’m good at it and after 25 years, it’s more of an addiction than a love. 

I have nothing to say... that was perfect

 

[Da Guru]

For some reason Thursday Night Football has turned into my favorite game of the week and come on..it is only 1 game.   Monday night I am usually tired if I had a big weekend. By TNF I am rested and excited for the weekend and ready to watch some football.  Last nights game might have been the first one all year that I watched most of the game.

 

[Rhythmdoctor]

I have nothing to say... that was perfect

I'm curious... is the NFL and/or the hobby of fantasy football attracting enough of young/new fans to sustain their popularity?  Now that I think of it, perhaps that's why they're pushing the global angle. Maybe they've seen stats to show American fans are diminishing?  I would love to see the data on how many young fans the NFL has.

I think I started actively watching football probably in high school, maybe jr. high.  My 10 year old son, who LOVES playing football (and he's damn good!), does not enjoy watching games.  He gets very impatient and would rather do art projects.  However, he loves watching highlights and those beat drop videos on youtube.  So he enjoys the action of football but watching a game in real time is a tough ask these days.  The best way to watch football is dvr and ffwd through commercials and stoppage.  

What were we talking about again?

 

[Tool]

I could also do without the Thursday game. Maybe keep it like 6 weeks so it would be more an event.

 

[menobrown]

Only thing I love more then Thursday night football is Saturday NFL football.

 

[Rhythmdoctor]

I could also do without the Thursday game. Maybe keep it like 6 weeks so it would be more an event.

If you make it 4, I could get down with that.  Say weeks 4, 8, 12, 16/17 are scheduled for Thursday night. You could leave the matchup open until that week, sort of like what they can do with Sunday night games. Maybe give 8 teams a heads up that they could be one of the teams for the next Thursday night game and after week 3, based on record, you choose that week 4 Thursday night game. Rinse/repeat for weeks 8, 12, 16/17.  Same logic applies to week 16 or 17. It's optional based on playoff scenarios etc... Now THAT would be the savvy way of doing Thursday night games.  NFL too greedy for that.  The slow build, anticipation is what hooks people.  Once you've gone all-in on greed, it's obvious and turns people away.  NFL has hit that saturation point.

 

[Despyzer]

If I was in charge, I'd get rid of Thursday night. I'd keep everything else the same, except I'd try to balance out Sundays a bit more by having late afternoon starts when West Coast teams have to travel to the East Coast.

 

[daveR]

The players, especially the veterans,  need all week to recover physically.   I think I'd be happier if they did Saturday night (Yeah, I know.) instead of Thursday.  Or maybe, if they HAVE to keep it on Thursday, make it after a bye week.  Possibly make it an international game, too.

 

[snellman]

It used to be that regular Thursday games did not start until after the Thanksgiving Thursday games and I would like to see it go back to that.  As been said before the worst thing about Thurs games is if you have a player that is questionable and would be able to play if it was a Sunday game but not able to go on a Thursday game after a short week.

 

[voiceofunreason]

Asked this 6 weeks ago. Doing a new vote to see if people still feel the same.

Was thinking today how after initially resisting, I've grown to love the current weekly lineup of Thursday Night, Sunday Afternoon, Sunday Night and Monday Night for the NFL schedule. Feels like just the right pace. 

But wondering what you thought. Let's hear it. Please leave a comment for how well you like the current setup and also let us know additional thoughts. 

And to be clear, this is just about the days of the week schedule. Not that you don't like the platform for broadcasts or you can't get ESPN for MNF or your team doesn't get enough night games or stuff like that. 

Let's hear it. 

At this point in the year I’m looking forward to the end. The first half of the year I enjoyed but it’s been a chore lately. I don’t plan on watching any games so doesn’t matter to me. 

 

[Joe Bryant]

How much does the quality of the game affect your opinion on this? Meaning after a LAC-KC awesome game, does it matter? 

 

[Ghost Rider]

Maybe it's because I am just used to it now, but I have come around to liking the Thursday night game.  It helps that the games have gotten better.

On the flip side, I am bored with Monday Night Football, which is not helped by the fact that those always seem to be the worst of the three night games. 

And I agree that the NFL ought to take more advantage of Saturday and do more Saturday games in December once college football is done before the bowls. 

 

[Da Guru]

TNF is not going away anytime soon. Ratings are up this year.

Just like Thanksgiving Day and every Sunday there are going to be good games and bad games. The Lions play every Thanksgiving so you know at least one game will be a stinker.

 

[TripleThreat]

This THU SAT SUN MON is a bit much. 

 

[Despyzer]

How much does the quality of the game affect your opinion on this? Meaning after a LAC-KC awesome game, does it matter? 

The athletes were a lot less sloppy than we normally see on Thursday (other than Rivers, who had only thrown six INTs all year and then threw two in one quarter), but the refs were even worse than normal. 

 

[GroveDiesel]

I feel like Thursday night games gave dilluted the product. NFL games always felt like an Event, I think partially due to the exclusive feel of games. Now, it feels like games are on all the time and they're no longer special. 

Maybe part of that is being older and having to get up for work in tbe mornings. Staying up a little late to watch Sunday night games (which seem to go way later than they used to) and Monday night games was doable. Now I have no desire to stay up until midnight 3 work nights a week watching often mediocre overproduced games.

 

[larry_boy_44]

I feel like Thursday night games gave dilluted the product. NFL games always felt like an Event, I think partially due to the exclusive feel of games. Now, it feels like games are on all the time and they're no longer special. 

Maybe part of that is being older and having to get up for work in tbe mornings. Staying up a little late to watch Sunday night games (which seem to go way later than they used to) and Monday night games was doable. Now I have no desire to stay up until midnight 3 work nights a week watching often mediocre overproduced games.

There are a lot of East Coast people complaining about when the games end...

Is the backlash against night football a sign of "East Coast Bias" in sports? Because I don't know as many midwesterners (and I don't see as many West Coast people) complaining as much as East Coast people do when this comes up.

 

[Despyzer]

Because I don't know as many midwesterners (and I don't see as many West Coast people) complaining as much as East Coast people do when this comes up.

Why would they? If you tell me I can watch a complete football game and then leisurely go about my usual nighttime routine and get a full night's sleep, I'm probably not going to complain about the time the game ends either. 

 

[larry_boy_44]

Why would they? If you tell me I can watch a complete football game and then leisurely go about my usual nighttime routine and get a full night's sleep, I'm probably not going to complain about the time the game ends either. 

I understand that, but I guess what I'm saying is if the complaint is an East Coast thing mostly... Is it being overstated how big of a complaint it is?

 

[BobbyLayne]

Hate TNF

 

[GroveDiesel]

I understand that, but I guess what I'm saying is if the complaint is an East Coast thing mostly... Is it being overstated how big of a complaint it is?

Well, since 50% of the country lives in EST and we're now up to 3 games/nights a week of games that wr can't watch until the end, then no, it's not really an overstated complaint.

 

[Arodin]

Well, since 50% of the country lives in EST and we're now up to 3 games/nights a week of games that wr can't watch until the end, then no, it's not really an overstated complaint.

Don’t forget week 1 Monday when the game ends around 2AM...

 

[belljr]

Let's have a team play Sunday night and then an away game Thursday, Brilliant!!!!

Other than Thanksgiving Thursday games can go away