Will The NFL Add MORE Thursday Night Games?

[ForLoveOfTheGame]

I'd pay to not have Thursday night games, I know that for sure. If the games were good that would be one thing but they just seem littered with bad performances to me. And we have to have two add/drop periods because of them. UGH

[mattjb]

Less Thursday Night games please on then only between teams coming off a bye week.

[Greg Ambrosius]

The NFL opened a can of worms with the media by discussing a Thursday doubleheader game, and despite their denials you know that they did talk about this. Here's a great composite of ideas from today's Sports Business Daily:

Even though the NFL was quick to deny a report that it was considering selling another package of Thursday night games to a different outlet than NFL Network, the mere idea produced a variety of responses yesterday. ESPN's Jemele Hill said, "This is a great idea to have another Thursday night doubleheader. Football is a national obsession in this country. There can never be too much NFL" ("Numbers Never Lie," ESPN2, 10/16). But the N.Y. Daily News' Bob Raissman said more Thursday night games will "oversaturate the product." SNY's Marc Malusis: "You're taking away from what was the special nature of Sunday football watching" ("Daily News Live," SNY, 10/16).

THE HEIGHT OF GREED: ESPN's Dan Le Batard said, "This is what a greedy, gluttonous beast that can't be stopped would do." He added, "If you're the NFL and you want to control TV programming, this would be a monster to have more Thursday night football. You could buy primetime slots. It's a huge night for television elsewhere. If you can go to another cable provider and get football, of course they're going to do this. And of course they don’t care about the safety of the players" ("Highly Questionable," ESPN2, 10/16). Denver Post columnist Woody Paige said, "You know the reason they're doing this is because the owners have been unhappy that they're not getting $600 million from an outside network. They're just taking their money out of one pocket and putting it into another. So they're going to add more games ... and produce more income for themselves. It's not about player safety" ("Around The Horn," ESPN, 10/16). The Chicago Tribune's Steve Rosenbloom: "The NFL is all about greed. ... The only time the NFL cares about player safety is when it's a quarterback or when Congress tells the NFL to worry about it. They're frauds" ("Deal With It!," CHICAGOTRIBUNE.com, 10/16). CBSSN's Jim Rome said, "Everybody loves those games, except the 22 guys that are on the field. Better yet, give me some doubleheaders because all my rowdy friends are coming over Thursday night and they’re the folks that the NFL cares most about, not its players” ("Rome," CBSSN, 10/16).

HOW DOES THIS HELP PLAYER SAFETY? SNY's Adam Schein said adding more games on Thursday is the "dumbest idea in the history of ideas." He said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is "speaking out of both sides of his mouth" in terms of player safety ("Loud Mouths," SNY, 10/16). The Orange County Register’s Dan Woike: “This is a league that has always been hypocritical when it comes to player safety. They can cry foul and say they're doing all these things about injuries and stuff like that. But then you go to the website and you see the photos of the big hits. They can say they care about player safety, but what they really care about is making more money" (“Rome,” CBSSN, 10/16).

NOT BUYING WHAT LEAGUE IS SELLING: Fox Business' Dennis Kneale said despite the denial, "something clearly is going on here." A deal with YouTube for Thursday night games would make it "ready for primetime as a major TV service" and a candidate to acquire the "Sunday NFL Ticket" package. It would be akin to what the NFL did "for the fledgling Fox broadcasting network over two decades ago." But Kneale added, "Then again it may just be an NFL juke move to scare DirecTV into a higher price" ("Markets Now," Fox Business, 10/16). SI’s Jim Trotter said, “The only reason why I’m skeptical, even when the league says it’s not considering this, is that Roger Goodell has already told the owners that revenues are going to increase above $20 billion by the end of the next decade." Trotter: "That money has to come from somewhere, and usually the place it comes from is TV” (“Rome,” CBSSN, 10/16).

TECHNICAL ISSUES: ESPN's Bomani Jones, on other possible competitors entering the NFL media rights landscape, said, "All the TV companies better get their weight up because if Google and Apple are talking about getting involved, Apple's got enough cash -- cash! -- to buy every franchise in American sports" ("Highly Questionable," ESPN2, 10/16). But FS1's Trevor Pryce said, "I know Netflix and Google are the TV of the future. ... But pro football and sports in general is a one-time thing. Once it comes on, nobody watches that game again” (“Crowd Goes Wild,” FS1, 10/16).

[mattjb]

More Thursdasy Night games are 2nd only on the list of things I don't want to see more of behind Tony Siragusa commercials advertising man pads.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Hmmmm, I thought the NFL said they weren't discussing Thursday doubleheaders and yet lo and behold Jerry Jones sure sounds like the owners have it all figured out already. Someone's not being totally honest. If Jerry wants it, then you know it's going to happen.

From SportsBusinessDaily today: "Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones said the league is discussing playing two games on Thursday nights, though nothing is imminent. That appears to contradict statements from NFL PR execs, who on Tuesday shot down a story in the Wall Street Journal that quoted a source saying the NFL was considering a Thursday night doubleheader. In an interview yesterday at his team’s HQs, Jones, who also chairs the NFL Network Committee, replied affirmatively to a question about whether the NFL was discussing the doubleheader concept.

He said, “We could easily have a doubleheader on Thursday. I don’t think that is out of the realm of thought, we haven’t set up how we will do it.” All options are open, he said, when asked if a second Thursday night game would also air on NFL Network or elsewhere.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Oh sure, the NFL hasn't discussed Thursday doubleheaders at all, according to the NFL. Well, then why was the Eagles' president on CNBC today saying how much he supports Thursday doubleheaders?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101124420#_gus

[Greg Ambrosius]

This is almost comical by the owners. Now Jerry Jones backs down slightly on his comments after likely hearing from the NFL, but his last comment is the best as he doesn't care what the Players Association says on this matter, it's happening if the owners want it to happen. Thank goodness we have labor peace until 2020.

From SBNation.com

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2013/10/18/ ... ubleheader

Jerry Jones walks back 'Thursday Night Football' comments

Jones clarified his initial statements about a Thursday night doubleheader.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Friday that the NFL is considering adding a second game to its Thursday night schedule, just days after the league denied any such notion. Later Friday, Jones backtracked from his initial remarks.

"The league has not been in discussions about a Thursday night doubleheader package," Jones said, via Daniel Kaplan of the SportsBusiness Journal. "Those were my thoughts. We are focused on further building Thursday night as a night for NFL football, but it has not involved the concept of a doubleheader package."

Jones is the chairman of the NFL Network committee, and despite his clarifying statement, he appears to support the doubleheader idea. Whether or not that means the potential schedule change will gain traction remains to be seen. Many players and coaches would prefer not to have any more Thursday night games, but it will be out of their hands. According to Jones, the NFL Players Association would have no influence on a decision one way or the other.

[Greg Ambrosius]

The NFL gives up when it has a chance for more TV money. Here's the latest today from SportsBusiness Daily:

Sources: NFL Could Create Eight-Game Package Bringing In Up To $700M

By John Ourand, Staff Writer

Published October 24, 2013

Network execs feels NFL could put together package games by '15 season
NFL officials say they still have not decided whether to make a new package of Thursday night games available to a cable channel in the next few years. And network execs say they still have not seen any plans --­ either formal or informal --­ about such a package. But sources with the networks and league believe there eventually will be a package of at least eight games starting with either the '15 or '16 season. Such a package could bring in as much as $700M per year, sources say. Starting next season, NBC will pay an average $950M per year through '22 for its primetime package, and ESPN will pay an average of $1.9B for "MNF" through '21. While there has been no agreement on what that package will look like, the most popular idea so far appears to be adding three games to NFL Network's schedule to give it 16 games, then splitting that package. The NFL would keep eight games on NFL Network and shop the other eight games to interested networks, which include Turner Sports, NBCSN, FS1 and others. The possibility exists for some of the late-season games to be on Saturdays, sources said. A new package could also include a valuable Wild Card playoff game, sources said. Earlier this month, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said adding two teams to the postseason is a priority for the league's competition committee. Any playoff expansion would come in '15. Previously, it was believed that any new TV package would only be created if the NFL expanded its schedule to 18 games. But sources said the NFL will be able to create a new package without expanding the season. By contract, the league could take games from its Sunday afternoon broadcast partners, CBS and Fox, to fill out the schedule.

NFL NETWORK WOULD KEEP SOME GAMES: Even if it shops a new package of games, the league is certain to keep live games on NFL Network. This year, the league has put an all-time high 14 games on the net, including the late Sunday night Chargers-Raiders game on Oct. 6 that had to have its game time switched because of a conflict with the MLB playoffs. Starting last season, NFL Network committed to carry 13 games per year; prior to that, it carried 8 games. Distributors pay the league a license fee of more than $1.30 per subscriber per month for NFL Network, according to SNL Kagan. Without live NFL games, the license fee would drop significantly, sources said. "I don't envision a scenario where there won't be games on NFL Network," NFL Network President Steve Bornstein said. "What we do with Thursday is really being discussed and considered right now." Bornstein was open about the league's desire to build up its Thursday night programming, though he reiterated that the league has not made firm decisions on how it would do that. He flatly denied reports that the NFL was looking into putting two games on Thursday nights, saying there was "no truth" to it. "We're trying to make Thursday a very strong NFL night, similar to what we've done on Sunday and for over 40 years on Monday," he said. "We're discussing it today. We haven't come up with any conclusions of what to do. We're considering different alternatives to make the night much more of an NFL night."

FUTURE OF SUNDAY TICKET UNKNOWN: The more pressing concern for Bornstein, who is leaving the NFL following the Super Bowl, is the Sunday Ticket out-of-market package. The NFL and DirecTV currently are negotiating to renew that deal, which expires after next season, and Bornstein said talks "are going well." "The timing of all this stuff is not anything I want to comment on because I honestly don't know," he said. NFL officials have spoken with alternate platforms, like Google, about the out-of-market package. But Bornstein dismissed the idea of a company like Google competing for existing rights. "To me, 'compete' is not the word; it's 'complement,'" he said. "We believe that the network package, along with the two cable packages that we have currently, along with what we do with our out-of-market package and how we¹ve developed the RedZone, is all complementary to the experience and rises all boats."

[Route C]

I agree with Jarrod the quality of the games has done nothing to stir up the fan base.
Hey how about the networks choice of Mike Mayock to do color commentary. Does this guy know how to step outside the NFL draft evaluation box...EVER!

Brad Nessler: TD. What a catch to end the half Mike!
Mike Mayock: At 6'4" 225 out of Georgia Tech this guy always a load.

Nessler: He sure is. I'd rate that one of the best catches of the year.
Mayock: I had him rated in the top 5 coming out of the draft. He did nothing to disappoint at the combine either posting the top vertical and finishing 4th in the 40.

Nessler: I still can't get over that catch. How did he come down with the ball and stay in bounds.
Mayock: Did I tell you how impressed I was when he did 32 reps on the bench. That's linebacker territory Brad!

Nessler: Mike are you even watching the game?
Mayock: What game....I can't take my eyes off this guys package!

[Greg Ambrosius]

World Series Game 2 last night drew 3 times as many viewers as the Thursday NFL Game between the Panthers and Bucs. Hell, I couldn't even watch that game anymore and my remote constantly went to the baseball game. The Monday Night Game from this week and the Thursday Night Game did NOTHING to expand the NFL fan base, that's for sure.