NFL's latest dumb idea: adding more terrible Thursday games
Milk every last penny out of it.
Apparently the billion dollar industry that is the NFL isn't make enough money, so the league has decided to throw as many dumb ideas against the wall as it can. The first was an 18 game schedule, then expanded playoffs, now the latest is adding more Thursday night games.
ProFootballTalk:
According to Matthew Futterman and Shalini Ramachandran of the Wall Street Journal, the NFL is considering adding more Thursday night games to its current slate of 13 televised by NFL Network.
Per the report, the league could stage some Thursday night doubleheaders, with games being televised on networks other than the league-owned broadcast operation.
Football is a highly entertaining sport, yet it is as popular for its content as it is for its format. With just 16 games in a season, each game is important. With games only being played three days a week, each day that the sport is on its special. Thus, people tune in. You make each game less special, you dilute the product. Does the league not understand this?
That's not to mention the fact that the NFL has been emphasizing safety, while at the same time trying to add extra games and now another short week game. The NFL already expanded Thursday night games to the entire season, where previously they began in November.
Oh and have I mentioned the number of players on IR this year is nearly double last year's total at this point?
Why Thursday? There is an antitrust exemption that prevents the NFL from broadcasting games on Friday and Saturday from Septemeber to early December.
