During last week’s NFL owners meetings it was decided that teams could now play multiple Thursday football games in a season. As of now players have already expressed how difficult the quick turnaround is from Sunday to Thursday, and how risky that already is to players’ health and safety. Now the league is reserving the right to flex teams later in the season to get the best possible matchups on that particular night.
As anyone could have predicted, the announcement didn’t sit well with most players, and some even voiced their opinions on various platforms. One of those players to express their dislike of the move is San Francisco 49ers All-Pro tight end George Kittle.
During a recent appearance on “This Past Weekend” podcast with Theo Von, Kittle, a wrecking ball kind of player expressed what it’s like to play on Sunday, let along four days later on Thursday.
“I’m in multiple car accidents every Sunday,” Kittle said on the podcast. “I’ve had games where I hyperextended my knee, that’s gonna affect your season. Or you burst a bursa sac in your knee. That’s going to be there several weeks. And if you get lucky, you don’t have to deal with that stuff. It’s a little bit better, but you’re still getting into these car accidents. Really, now how I see it is, if I’m not doing football, I’m doing recovery.”
Kittle said a mouthful about how physically demanding playing one game a week can be, and now the league is looking to have teams add another game to an already quick turnaround is they’re scheduled to play on “TNF.” For a league that’s so serious about players’ health and safety this doesn’t sound like the brightest of moves.
Final Decision Won’t Be Until May
In order for the new rule to pass, 75 percent of the league’s owners have to agree. That means 24 of the league’s 32 would have to vote in favor of the proposal before it can be levied into place. As of now the belief is they’ll get the 75 percent needed to pass the vote, and then we’ll see many of the better teams slotted into multiple TNF games, much to the chagrin of the players.
Sunday night flexing has been going on for years, but that’s an extra three days to recover, and therefore there’s never been a gripe from players. But there has always been a bit of a fuss about Thursday games, because of the fast turnaround.
Amazon And Owners Want Return On Investment
Last season was the first with Amazon running the league’s “TNF” schedule. Ratings saw a 46 percent decline from the previous season when games were broadcast on NFL Network and Fox Sports. Despite a 9.6 million viewership number according to Nielsen, the lack of playoff-impacting games hurt the product as a a whole.
So now they’re gonna risk players’ health even more to make sure that bottom line is met.
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