NFL owners are set to have a second vote on Thursday Night Football, with flexed games now a possibility.
That is according to The Athletic’s Daniel Kaplan, who is reporting that an initial vote at the owners’ meeting in March didn’t produce the required activity. The league only got 22 of the 24 votes it needed, with eight owners voting against the flex and two declining to lean either way.
Kaplan notes that the NFL is keen on making TNF games eligible for flex scheduling after ratings took a significant dip last season. Said programming was reportedly viewed by an average of four million people fewer than the season before.
The biggest factor is thought to be the fact that the games went to Amazon Prime, having broadcast from cable previously. A lot of TNF games were also thought to be boring and meaningless but, once the schedule was set, there was nothing the league could have done.
Sunday Night Football games have been subject to flex scheduling over the course of the last seven weeks of the NFL season since 2006. This will apply to Monday Night Football Games from 2023 too.
Flexed Thursday games could prove to be more difficult to manage. Shifting a Sunday game to Monday is feasible enough, but Sunday to Thursday makes for competitive disadvantages.
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It would also make things difficult for fans attending the games, which is why many of the owners were against it from the start.
