The NFL owners’ meetings have been going on this week in Arizona, and New York football has made some waves during this time. Giants owner John Mara ripping the league’s Thursday Night Football flex scheduling proposal was just the latest.
There have once again been rumblings about a Big Blue-Odell Beckham Jr. reunion, although OBJ was seen chatting with Jets brass this week. Head coach Brian Daboll was also busy keeping his squad humble after a surprising run to the playoffs in 2022.
Among the things that needed to be accomplished in Arizona was voting on potential rule changes and scheduling proposals. NFL players are now allowed to wear the number zero on their jerseys if they want. It feels weird that it had to be voted on, but whatever. There was also a vote on whether the league could flex games from Sunday to Thursday night.
It didn’t pass. Mara was happy about that. Although, he acknowledged it’ll probably be a topic that gets brought up again later this offseason. The owner said he was “adamantly” against the proposal, and he didn’t mince his words when talking to the media:
Giants’ John Mara is “adamantly opposed” to TNF flex scheduling proposal pic.twitter.com/JIUoo5kTec
— Charlotte Carroll (@charlottecrrll) March 29, 2023
This is coming in response to Amazon Prime’s TNF viewership declining significantly toward the end of the regular season. The proposal also would call for teams to be notified 15 days ahead of time if their game is getting flexed. Mara can see the benefits of that from a viewership standpoint. It doesn’t mean he likes it, though (via New York Post):
People make plans to go to these games weeks and months in advance. To, 15 days ahead of time, to say, ‘Sorry folks, that game you were planning on taking your kids to Sunday at 1 o’clock, it’s now going to be Thursday night.’ I mean, what are we thinking about?
I suppose it would [increase viewership], but at some point can we please give some consideration to the people coming to the games? I understand the ratings towards the end of the year on Amazon were down a little bit. We probably had some bad matchups. Let’s pick better matchups.
Mara from the top rope, folks.
The possibility of a game getting flexed from Sunday afternoon to Sunday night is annoying. However, it can be managed easily. At least, easier than having that game flexed to Thursday or Monday night.
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You can reach Matt Musico at matt.musico@xlmedia.com. You can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
