If you make a pilgrimage to Lambeau Field each year, buying your Packers’ home (or away) game tickets and making airline and hotel reservations months in advance, you’ll want to pay attention to this:
(From NBC’s Peter King)
“At the recent NFL owners’ meetings, the owners voted on a proposal to make Thursday night games in weeks 14 through 17 on Amazon eligible to move to Sunday, with a corresponding trade of a more attractive game into the Thursday night slot. A few teams, the Packers’ among them, are saying it’s unfair to fans who make plans to travel to games to have them changed 15 days prior. And it’s unfair to fans and teams planning on a 12:00 p.m. (CT) Sunday game to have the game played three days earlier on a weeknight at 7:20 p.m. (CT).”
“The Giants, Jets, Bears, Saints, and Packers were among those who opposed the flex. For Green Bay, a ton of fans both follow them on the road and make bucket-list pilgrimages to Lambeau Field for games, and the Packers felt it unfair to have potentially thousands of fans be stuck with travel issues should a game be moved from Sunday to Thursday, or vice versa. Carolina and Denver abstained. With 24 votes needed for passage, the vote was 22 to 8 with the two abstentions. The NFL will arm-twist prior to the next league session in late May, and unless the anti-forces can muster some momentum, it’s likely the measure will pass then.”
“Post-meeting, New York Giants owner John Mara said: “At some point, can we please give some consideration to the people who are coming to our games? People make plans to go to these games weeks and months in advance. And 15 days ahead of time to say, ‘Sorry, folks, that game you were planning on taking your kids to Sunday at 1:00 (ET), now it’s on Thursday night’? What are we thinking about?”
Indeed.
Green Bay Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy said this on Saturday in his Murphy Takes Five column:
“This topic was heavily debated at our league meeting. Television and television revenue are obviously very important to the league. The new Thursday night package on Amazon is especially important to the league – streaming is new to the league and we want Amazon to do well as all indications are that more and more people are using streaming services rather than network television. As you note, flexing Thursday night games will have a significant impact on fans and players, as well as coaches. The league has allowed flexible scheduling for Sunday Night Football for many years now, but moving a game from Sunday afternoon to Sunday night is a lot different than moving a Sunday game up to Thursday for the reasons you note. Moreover, we will allow flexing for Monday night games this year for the first time, so we don't know what issues may arise from this change. I believe that we do need to consider the fans in the stands, and how this would affect them – especially since so many of our fans travel a good distance to come to Lambeau Field and stay in hotels.”
“The proposed policy was amended to state that no team will be required to play more than two Thursday night games and at least one of the games will be a home game. The games will only be later in the season and the league will try to give as much notice as possible. I anticipate that there will be further discussion regarding this at our May meeting.”
“The proposed policy was amended to state that no team will be required to play more than two Thursday night games and at least one of the games will be a home game. The games will only be later in the season and the league will try to give as much notice as possible. I anticipate that there will be further discussion regarding this at our May meeting.”
As a season ticket holder who attends all ten home games (plus playoffs), I am not directly affected to the degree that others will be when this is a done deal. But Amazon has the streaming money the NFL wants, and both Jeff Bezos and Roger Goodell get what they want.
Nine years ago, Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, said this about the NFL: “I’m just telling you, pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. And they’re getting hoggy. Just watch. When you try to take it too far, people turn the other way.”
Peter King’s full April 3, 2023 Football Morning in America column can be read HERE.
