What's The Future Of Thursday Night Football?

[Greg Ambrosius]

If you watched all of Thursday Night's NFL game between the Bunglers and the Texans you are a greater man or woman than me. I couldn't take that past halftime, I really couldn't.

I watched the end of the exciting Cleveland Indians' game instead. Down to their last strike in the bottom of the 9th inning, Francisco Lindor delivered a clutch RBI double to tie the game. And then with great base running by MVP candidate Jose Ramirez in the bottom of the 10th inning, they walked off for their 22nd straight win. Yes, it was only 3-2 and I didn't watch the entire game, but it was more exciting than that second half on the NFL Network. I saw DeShaun Watson's great TV scramble in the first half and honestly that was the only play of interest.

We knew this was going to be a stinker. Two bad offensive lines with one team having a QB on the decline and another team having a rookie QB starting his first game on a short work week -- on the road no less -- made it seem like a 15-13 game was coming. Except it was a 13-9 game.

Now if this game were played on Sunday would it have been any better? Would it have been a 20-16 game instead?

YES. Three extra practice days along with three extra days to get your bodies healthy WOULD HAVE made a big difference. But the NFL doesn't consider that because they don't care about the players. Or their health.

And that's sad. The product is worse on Thursday Nights and yet the NFL doesn't care. They don't look for solutions because more money is rolling into their coffers. And at the end of the day it's all about the money, money, money.

That's bullshit if you ask me. I LOVE THE NFL and I hate to see this great product diminished because the owners just care about more money. This has to end. TV Ratings are steadily declining -- overall viewership in Week 1 was down 13 percent from a year ago when viewership was down as well from 2015 -- and yet the NFL brushes it aside. They said Hurricane Harvey and Irma impacted ratings. Last year it was the election.

At some point IT'S THE PRODUCT!!

The worst games are on Thursday Night, hands down. Scoring is down. Fan enthusiasm is down. Players are playing hurt more often. It's just a fact.

So why don't we look at a better alternative? There is one, you know.

When the NFL added Thursday Night Football in 2006 to prop up the value and exposure of the NFL Network, it was a revenue grab for an additional weekly game. But at that time nobody was airing college football on Saturday Nights on a national basis. That has obviously changed since 2006 as the Pac 10 now has a Saturday night national game on Fox, and ABC has a national game every Saturday night, as does ESPN and its other networks. It's a crowded Saturday night of football now.

But so what. Saturday Night Football would be the perfect lead-in to a weekend of NFL action and it would be a much more competitive game than Thursday Night Football. The NFL Players Association would rather have that than Thursday Night Football. The NCAA would bark, but so what. You would have Saturday Night Football leading into Sunday's full slate of games that would then lead into Monday Night Football. It's the perfect scenario.

Thursday Night Football makes no sense and the players hate it. It's time for a change and one that would help TV ratings, the players, the owners, the networks and the sponsors. Let's make this change.

What do you think?

[King of Queens]

This guy gets it:

TheLeadSports presents THE QUICKIE (9/15/2017)

TAKING A HIT: NFL RATINGS CONTINUE TO DROP

After a Hurricane Irma delay, Nielsen finally released its Week 1 NFL TV ratings yesterday and the results were more concerning than the mysterious rash on your unmentionables. On the whole, viewership was down roughly 13% from last season, a number the league and TV executives have blamed on hurricane coverage. When ratings dipped last year, they blamed coverage of the election. You sensing a trend? Yup, we are too and it has nothing to do with people being distracted by the news...

MAYBE IT'S THE PRODUCT?
We'd like you to ask yourself this question: if you didn't have a fantasy team, would you still tune-in to watch the NFL? I can't speak for everyone at TheLead, but frankly, my answer is "no." And that's not because I grew up in Los Angeles and have no true affiliation to a team, it's because the product on the field is less enticing than Jon Lovitz in lingerie eating chili without a utensil. Were it not for my overwhelming need to watch the players I "own" fight for yards or the euphoria that comes from seeing someone on my team score a touchdown, I would find better things to do with my Sunday...

AND EVEN THAT'S CHANGING
Of course, as audiences grow more and more restless and attention spans shrink like Alice before her trip to Wonderland, not even the appeal of following fantasy players will keep viewers engaged. Part of that has to do with the information being so easily accessible on your phone, while the other aspect is the watered down, over-commercialized product on the screen. Seriously, is there anything worse than this sequence: three and out, punt, commercial, three and out, punt, commercial? Twenty minutes of your life gone and not one ounce of entertainment consumed...

WILL IT GET WORSE?
Oh yeah. Pending some impressive pivoting or a newfound willingness to adapt, we're witnessing the beginning of the end for the NFL. Not only is what they're selling becoming less attractive to consumers but the employees they rely on to produce this dying product are starting to shy away due to the desire for personal preservation. And if that's not enough to make you think football is on its way out, the younger generation has shown a preference towards e-sports over traditional sports, something that should scare not only the leagues but all of humanity. In the meantime, the NFL is still here and will be for quite awhile, so as long as that's the case we're gonna keep writing about it...

[Greg Ambrosius]

So how long does it take the NFL to start supporting legalized sports betting? That's one thing that would attract a growing audience, right?

[Don Draper]

If citizens want their pensions and retirements to actually pay out, the following new revenue streams will need to be "legalized" and taxed:
1. Weed
2. Sports gambling
3. Prostitution

[Greg Ambrosius]

If citizens want their pensions and retirements to actually pay out, the following new revenue streams will need to be "legalized" and taxed:
1. Weed
2. Sports gambling
3. Prostitution

Hard to disagree!!

[Coltsfan]

If citizens want their pensions and retirements to actually pay out, the following new revenue streams will need to be "legalized" and taxed:
1. Weed
2. Sports gambling
3. Prostitution

Hard to disagree!!

There's a good chance they could tax somebody doing all 3 at the same time....

[Coltsfan]

In regards to Thursday night football, I think that they too many offerings. It's probably the same viewers who are spreading out their football watching over more games. Watching football 3 nights a week is just too much for me.

After watching last nights game I'm not sure I'll be ready to watch any more football for a few weeks. That was BRUTAL! I didn't know two teams could play that bad. There was exactly one play the entire game worth watching.


Wayne

[Greg Ambrosius]

In regards to Thursday night football, I think that they too many offerings. It's probably the same viewers who are spreading out their football watching over more games. Watching football 3 nights a week is just too much for me.

After watching last nights game I'm not sure I'll be ready to watch any more football for a few weeks. That was BRUTAL! I didn't know two teams could play that bad. There was exactly one play the entire game worth watching.


Wayne

If you think that was bad: RAMS VS. NINERS NEXT WEEK ON THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL!!

[KenGill]

The product just isn't as good as it was 25 years ago. There are way too many teams that do nothing more than throw short, throw short, throw short. Not enough interesting / trick plays. The NFL needs to think outside the box and make radical changes to make the game better. Moving the extra point line back was a good start, because it's no longer an automatic.

What else could they do?

1. Require 15 yards for a first down instead of 10.
2. Reduce the number of players on the field
3. Take a page out of hockey and have a 'penalty box' where one or more players would be required to be off the field for a certain amount of time, for a rules infraction.

Thoughts?

And Greg I agree that it's time to eliminate Thursday night football, but honestly I don't see them doing it.

[RC Techies]

lets hope somebody is listening out there. Please get rid of Thursday night football. I know that as both a football fan and a fantasy player I hate Thursday night football. Enjoyed fantasy football a lot more when I did my free agent bids on Friday nights instead of Wednesday nights.

However, I expect the trend to continue in the other direction. How long before the NFL expands its games outside of the US to include new teams. Can see these games being played on Saturday or Friday nights.

I don't plan to watch the Thursday night game as I have no players on either side. Thank god for that. I can actually spend my Thursday night doing something productive with the family and not feel guilty. For the rest of you that have to suffer through watching San Fran and the Rams, good luck.