Aaron Rodgers practically upended the NFL schedule two years in the past when he informed some throughout the Green Bay Packers group he didn’t need to return to the group.
For the sake and sanity of these within the league’s scheduling division, cooler heads prevailed.
Rodgers was on the transfer throughout this offseason together with his commerce to the New York Jets, nevertheless it was deliberate properly sufficient prematurely that the league and its community companions may get of their requests. The Jets will make six prime-time appearances and have 4 video games within the Sunday afternoon late window (4:25 p.m. ET).
“Navigating the process was largely about Aaron and his future,” Fox EVP, Head of Strategy and Analytics Mike Mulvihill stated. “There’s always a lot of focus on marquee quarterbacks that could change teams. And that was certainly the case this year.”
For the second straight 12 months, ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” will get a marquee QB making his debut with one other group when the Jets host the Buffalo Bills on Sept. 11. Russell Wilson’s first sport with Denver, which coincidentally was in Seattle, averaged 19.85 million viewers, essentially the most watched Monday evening sport since ESPN took over the package deal in 2006.
Three of the Jets’ first 4 video games are in a nationwide widow. The Sept. 17 sport at Dallas is the featured CBS sport within the late window, and Rodgers’ first assembly with Patrick Mahomes is on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” on Oct. 1 when the Jets host Kansas City.
CBS has not less than eight Jets video games, with Fox, ESPN, NBC, and Amazon Prime Video getting two apiece. The league doesn’t set networks for all Week 18 video games till after Week 17.
Even although this was the primary 12 months of the NFL’s new tv package deal, the place any sport may go to any community, many of the previous construction stays in place. Over 90% of Fox’s schedule options not less than one NFC group, whereas CBS stays the highest community for the AFC’s prime groups.
CBS could have 13 video games the place each groups are from the NFC, nevertheless it nonetheless has many of the prime AFC matchups.
“The process continues to be more and more collaborative. And the fact that the NFL had so much flexibility for the AFC and NFC packages benefited everybody,” CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus stated. “The good news is, even though we have all these great NFC games, we’re still the conference of the AFC, which means we get the benefit of all these star quarterbacks.”
Among different notes and reactions from Thursday evening’s NFL schedule launch:
MAXIMIZING THE CHIEFS
CBS has the defending Super Bowl champions for eight video games, together with six appearances within the late afternoon window.
McManus stated the highest sport on the community’s want record was the AFC championship sport rematch between Kansas City and the Cincinnati Bengals, which will likely be on Dec. 31. There’s additionally Buffalo at Kansas City on Dec. 10, which many thought may be a prime-time sport.
The Dec. 25 sport between the Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders may even be the Nickelodeon broadcast. It would be the second straight 12 months the slime-filled broadcast will likely be on Christmas Day. NBC has the Chiefs 3 times, ESPN/ABC twice, and Fox, NFL Network, and Prime Video one time every.
CBS can be the community for Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas.
FOX AND AMERICA’S TEAM
With Rodgers heading to the Jets and Tom Brady’s retirement, Fox’s precedence, greater than different years, was guaranteeing it had as many Dallas Cowboys video games as doable.
The Cowboys are on Fox 9 occasions, together with six within the late Sunday 4:25 p.m. ET window.
“I’m not exaggerating at all; we spent more time talking about what our fifth-best Dallas game would be than we spent talking about the No. 1 game on our schedule. Because if you are going to get eight or nine Dallas appearances, you’re going to have a couple of blockbusters,” Mulvihill stated. “Last year, we had only three at 4:25, so that’s a big change that’s driven mostly by the departures of Brady and Rodgers.”
The key Fox Cowboys video games are at Philadelphia on Nov. 5, Nov. 12 in opposition to the New York Giants, at Buffalo on Dec. 17, and Dec. 24 at Miami.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Amazon Prime Video received its desire for the primary Black Friday sport. It needed the sport in New York and ended up getting an AFC East matchup between the Jets and Miami Dolphins on Nov. 24.
“We said, all things being equal, we’d love to start this new holiday tradition in New York. And so they were able to come through with that and an awesome game,” stated Marie Donoghue, Amazon’s Vice President of Global Sports Video.
The second “Thursday Night Football” season on Prime Video will make its first journeys to Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Las Vegas, and New Orleans.
The Chicago Bears, Steelers, Saints, and Jets will make a number of appearances on Prime Video this 12 months after homeowners accepted permitting groups to play a couple of sport on a four- or five-day week. That means the Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Houston Texans, and Indianapolis Colts is not going to have any prime-time video games this season.
“I think we were already headed in that direction, to some extent already, with the additional Thursday night game we had already added and now adding Black Friday, said Hans Schroeder, the Executive Vice President of NFL Media, about teams making multiple appearances on a short week. ”We’re giving our followers essentially the most applicable matchups to enter a nationwide window. And that was a technique to actually assist the Thursday evening package deal, and accomplish that in a method that we predict was applicable. “
MONDAY NIGHT MANIA
Besides having flex scheduling starting in Week 12 for the primary time, ESPN has two of the extra anticipated video games. It has Rodgers’ Jets debut and the Super Bowl rematch between the Eagles and Chiefs on Nov. 20.
“I would argue we’ve got the best two games on the entire board,” stated ESPN President of Content Burke Magnus.
There will likely be video games on each ABC and ESPN on Sept. 18, Sept. 25, and Dec. 11. The Dec. 25 sport between Baltimore and San Francisco will likely be on ABC since ESPN has a complete day of NBA matchups.
The Cowboys additionally make two MNF appearances this season, marking the primary time that has occurred because the package deal moved to ESPN in 2006.
SOMETHING BLUE, SOMETHING NEW
For the fifth time since NBC began airing “Sunday Night Football” in 2006, the primary Sunday evening sport will likely be between the Giants and Cowboys. The Sept. 10 sport additionally marks the thirteenth time they’ve met on SNF.
NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service could have a sport for the primary time. That will likely be on Dec. 23 when the Buffalo Bills face the Los Angeles Chargers. The Cincinnati Bengals vs. Pittsburgh Steelers matchup on NBC will likely be preceded by that.
“We spent a lot of time with the NFL and had productive meetings about the proper positioning of that (Peacock) game,” NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua stated. “We think that’s going to be a great combination of using the power of NBC with that late-afternoon game and driving that audience to Peacock for the regular-season exclusive game.”
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