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EAGAN, Minn. – NFL owners will have the ability to shift a limited number of late-season “Thursday Night Football” games to the Amazon Prime streaming platform under a proposal that passed for the first time in a recent vote Monday. The day of their spring meetings.
The decision was passed with the votes of 24 owners, the minimum required to enact a new law and will only be implemented on a trial basis for the 2023 season. If no Thursday night games are adjusted, the decision will carry over into the 2024 season.
An earlier version of the proposal was presented at the league meetings in March with strong opposition New York Giants owner John Mara called it “insulting” to fans whose schedules would be disrupted.
The resolution would allow the league to move Sunday afternoon games to Thursday nights and move the originally scheduled games from Weeks 13 through 17 to Sunday afternoons. The NFL must provide notice no later than 28 days before the game, an increase of nearly two. Weeks from the previous idea. No team is required to fold into a Thursday night game more than once, and the maximum number of Thursday night games per team remains at two.
Thursday night games from week 13-17:
The NFL now has flexible options for all prime-time games, having previously added a window for “Monday Night Football” games this season. Since 2006, “Sunday Night Football” has the power to change games.
NFL Executive Vice President and Chief NFL Media Officer Hans Schroeder noted that the league has averaged 1.8 swing games per season on its Sunday night programs. Chief media and business officer Brian Rollapp said Thursday night’s volatility was “not something we expect to happen out of the ordinary.”
Mara said in March that the league had to prioritize fans buying game tickets and could face a major change in travel plans if Thursday’s game was moved to Sunday or vice versa.
“People plan to go to these games weeks and months in advance,” Mara said. “And I’m sorry guys, the game you planned to take your kids to on Sunday 1 is now on Thursday night?” 15 days early to say the least. What are we thinking about?”
Those who supported the resolution also pointed out that it is also responsible for prioritizing fans watching games on television. Mara was not immediately available for comment Monday, but was one of eight owners who protested the decision despite the required notice being extended from 15 to 28 days. Other teams that voted against the decision were the Jets, Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, Raiders, Detroit Lions, Cincinnati Bengals and Steelers, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
“There has to be a fair amount of flexibility in terms of the type of game we think we’re going to have a higher bar for Monday night and a higher bar for Thursday night,” Schroder said.