“After he retired, we were concerned about the NFC setup”: Tom Brady’s return really shook up the NFL schedule
Follow Us
Tom Brady
The NFL schedule for the upcoming 2022 season will be released this Thursday, every fan is eagerly waiting upon the schedule to see when their favorite teams will be going at it. Of course, Sunday Night Football games are the most popular, and the teams that garner the most attention and have the most popular players usually get to play during prime time on Sundays.
We do need to take a moment aside and appreciate the work that the league’s schedule makers put in, the team behind this involved a lot of computer programmers who work together to find a schedule that makes one team rejoice and annoys a different team.
NFL considers matchups to maximize TV revenue
Sam Farmer of the LA Times got access to the schedule-makers and wrote a feature with respect to this. JoeBucsFan, a reputed source who is close to the organization has found out that every year before the NFL releases its official season schedule, the league gets a bunch of requests from the teams for certain games or certain dates that they would like to be at home or on the road.
It is nothing new and has become an annual practice of sorts now. The NFL takes every request that it gets very seriously, however, it is not easy to make everyone happy so this results in almost every team being unhappy on some level.
“So every time a team sends us a request and says, ‘Hey, can you put us on the road in Week 2, we’ve got Elton John or Lady Gaga,’ you think, ‘Yeah, sure’.” NFL’s scheduling official Michael North said, in addition to this, referring to concerts at stadiums, “One week for them shouldn’t be an issue for the league office, right? Just block it out.”
“But the team says, ‘Don’t ruin our schedule as a result. We still want to open at home. Just put us on the road in Week 2 and we’ll come home again in Week 3.’ But if 16 clubs have similar asks, that becomes a pretty big constraint on a pretty challenging puzzle which is only getting harder.”
The NFL’s main goal is to match the teams up that will earn the maximum amount of viewership and result in more TV revenue while being fair.
Since the Denver Broncos now have Russell Wilson and the Indianapolis Colts now have Matt Ryan, these franchises are likely to draw bigger numbers. The Seattle Seahawks or Atlanta Falcons in comparison will not draw as much viewership. So if the Seahawks’ opening game is going on, the league would not keep a game of the Broncos simultaneously.
As per NFL broadcasting chief Howard Katz, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been a wild card and a top priority for the league. This comes as no surprise as he had the entire league shook this offseason.
“When Tom Brady retired, we were concerned about the strength of the NFC package because there were so many terrific Tampa Bay games we were looking at, then a month later he un-retires and we sort of started all over again,” Katz said.
It is a mystery as to what requests the Buccaneers have made to the league office, in all likelihood, the team could have requested one of the three Christmas games to be held in Tampa. The Bucs may also wish to open on the road as the University of South Florida will be playing a home game at the Licht House every Saturday before the official NFL opening on the 11th of September.
Also read: “He’s not a rookie anymore”: Jets HC Robert Saleh believes Zach Wilson will have a big season
Stay Updated!
Sumedh Joshi
(2235 Articles Published)