Thursday Night Football won't be cut from the NFL lineup, the league said Monday in response to rumors that it was considering eliminating the games.
In a statement late Monday night, the league said, “We are fully committed to Thursday Night Football and any reports to the contrary are unfounded,” the Wall Street Journal reported. The statement came in response to a story from Pro Football Talk which claimed there might be discussions about ending Thursday night games after 2017 when current contracts will expire.
The debate comes as ratings have fallen for Thursday night games amid complaints about garish uniforms and disappointing games that aren’t as competitive as some hoped. Some commentators have suggested that there might be too much football on television, the WSJ reported. Another drawback to Thursday games is that players only have four days to rest and recover from the previous Sunday’s games, which could hurt the quality of play.
This year, CBS and NBC have split the Thursday night broadcasting rights, paying $225 million each for a total of $450 million compared with CBS paying $300 million for all the rights last year. Twitter also has a $10 million deal to stream 10 Thursday games on its network, WSJ reported.
Although Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio cited an unnamed source with knowledge of the league’s consideration of the changes, the NFL’s statement has denied these allegations, insisting that Thursday night football is safe for the foreseeable future.
The Wall Street Journal said that games played each year in London would no longer air at 9:30 a.m. in U.S. television markets, but will now be moved to Sunday afternoons.
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