John Mara is not a fan of the reported likely changes regarding Thursday Night Football.
The NFL owners voted to approve a change that will allow teams to play two TNF games on short rest in one season, but that is not the one that has Mara upset.
The owners also reportedly tabled a proposal that would have introduced flex scheduling for the timeslot. It would allow Sunday afternoon games in Weeks 14-17 to shift to Thursdays with 15 days’ notice. The flex scheduling seems to be controversial even among owners, as indicated by the fact that the proposal wasn’t pushed through Tuesday.
New York Giants owner John Mara called the idea “abusive” for fans who attend games:
“People have gotten used to going from Sunday afternoon to Sunday night, that doesn’t mean that they like it. This year, we could be flexed to Monday night, which I think is really inconsiderate to our ticket-holders. To flex a game back to Thursday night, to me, is just abusive. I am adamantly opposed to it. Fortunately, it didn’t get enough votes today, but it will probably be revisited in May.”
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Mara also pointed out on fans who plan to go to these games weeks in advance being screwed if a game on Sunday suddenly gets flexed to Thursday.
“People make plans to go to these games weeks and months in advance. 15 days ahead of time to say ‘Sorry folks, that game you were planning on taking your kids to Sunday at one o’clock, it’s now going to be Thursday night.’ I mean, what are we thinking about?”
As Mara indicated, this matter clearly isn’t settled.
