Is the NFL Heading Towards Having a Game Every Night of the Week? - Joe Chacon's Blog

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Joe Chacon's Blog

Is the NFL Heading Towards Having a Game Every Night of the Week?

Posted on September 27, 2012 at 06:20 PM.

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The NFL has yet another Thursday night game tonight and for many of us the increase in frequency of Thursday games has been welcomed.

Tonight's game will mark the third of 13 regular season Thursday games scheduled for the 2012 season. In comparison, there had been an average of eight Thursday games between the 2006 and 2011 seasons. Ratings have been good, and if the increase in Thursday games is any indication, we'll be seeing the NFL more often during the week in the very near future.

The NFL built its brand from playing their games on Sundays. There have been, of course, the two traditional Thanksgiving Day games that featured the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys -- that has progressed into three games. Monday Night Football now showcases two games for the first week of the regular season. Sunday Night Football has arguably been just as popular as MNF since ESPN took over the rights for MNF. We also have games that take place on Saturday's towards the end of the season.

How likely is it that in a couple years we will see an NFL game take place on a Tuesday night? How about Friday? The NFL is too profitable and smart not to let go of the traditional full Sunday slate and spread it out throughout the week. What's the worst that can happen?

Perhaps part of the charm of the NFL is that it is a one day event. During football season most fans plan around their teams game on that Sunday -- or in some cases, Monday or Thursday. People are glued to their televisions and computers throughout each football Sunday watching their Sunday Ticket Package or my personal favorite, the RedZone channel. Would spreading the games out during the week delude the fan base a little?

The NBA, MLB, and NHL seem to do okay with having their games on throughout the week. The biggest conflict I see would be with the schedule making and the hope of not losing fans because of the game times. Attendance is already down in many NFL cities and hosting regular season games during the week can only make it harder for those fans to get to the stadium.

I consider myself a bit of a traditionalist. I don't want to see the NFL during the week more than we do already. It doesn't mean I don't like to watch as much football as possible, but I think it would somehow take away from that eager feeling we get about the season as it progresses from week to week.

One Monday Night Game and a full slate of Sunday games is how I'd like to see the schedule. I also wouldn't mind them reserving Thursday games for just Thanksgiving Day.

Then again, I'm not a television network with advertising dollars to spend. I'm certain the NFL schedule as we know it will be blown up over the next couple of years and we'll see football on every night of the week.

Remember when College Football was only played on Saturday's?

Joe Chacon is a staff writer for Operation Sports and a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.

Comments

# 1 Bmore Irish @ Sep 27

I can't see that happening, at least not without a labor dispute of a proportion ten times that of what we just saw with the refs. a lot of players already don't like the fact that the thursday night games exist, and they're even more against the idea of extending the schedule. more games during the week is in this same context. it becomes a player safety issue. and after all the heat the league and it's owners just took for the ref debacle, theyd be unwise to make another move that undermines how much they "care about player safety"

# 2 Joe Chacon @ Sep 27

Great points, Bmore!