For those wondering how the NFL could possibly find more standalone windows to entice streamers to buy one-off games for eye-popping sums of money, please do not doubt The Shield.
On Wednesday, ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter reported that the league is now “exploring” the possibility of playing a game on the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving as soon as this upcoming season.
Of course, the NFL has been open to scheduling games on odd days of the calendar when holidays afford the opportunity. In 2024, the league arranged a Christmas Day doubleheader on Netflix that was played on a Wednesday.
However, a pre-Thanksgiving Wednesday game would likely require a bit more planning. The 2024 Christmas doubleheader required the four teams participating to play the prior Saturday in order to simulate the same cadence of what a typical Thursday short-week game would bring. That’s only possible late into December, when the NFL can legally broadcast games on Saturdays. A Wednesday game before Thanksgiving would likely necessitate that both teams are coming off a bye in the previous week.
Scheduling a game for Thanksgiving Eve wouldn’t exactly be a surprising move for the NFL. Last month, a report surfaced that Amazon, YouTube, and Netflix are all “likely” to get five-game streaming packages once the NFL completes its early media rights negotiations over the next year or two. These packages wouldn’t necessarily be filled with any old games, however. Streamers will pay premium prices for unique, standalone windows.
The NFL already has four extra games in its arsenal that were returned from ESPN as part of the NFL Media deal and are not currently assigned to any broadcaster. One of those could potentially turn into the Thanksgiving Eve game, and the league would still have three more to dole out. Some have speculated the league could add an additional Black Friday game. Who knows what else could be up its sleeve.
The possibility comes at an interesting time, however. Federal officials have taken a sharper interest in the fragmentation of live sports rights and the antitrust exemption leagues like the NFL are granted under federal law. The more the NFL and other professional sports leagues continue to spread games out, the more scrutiny they could receive from regulators and lawmakers.
That seems to be something the NFL will worry about down the road. For now, it’s about cashing in as much as possible.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.