The NFL owners made a big decision on Thursday Night Football at the meetings. The owners voted to allow teams to play not one but two Thursday games and more importantly, these games could be flexed later in the season. Flexing games is nothing new as later in the season, Sunday night games are not scheduled so they can get premium matchups. However, Thursday night is different. The NFL world reacted to this decision and it is safe to say people are not happy.
Further proof the NFL doesn't care one bit about player safety or anything players want.
Getting rid of Thursday Night Football altogether would be a better idea https://t.co/guOCjh2XxF
— Andrew Schnittker (@aschnitt53) March 28, 2023
NFL World Reacts To Thursday Night Football
The tweet above is from a fan and there are lots more like it. Fans are blasting the NFL for the decision citing the player safety issue. While the 10-day mini-bye is an advantage that Roger Goodell pointed out, the flip side is the short week that players have to endure. Many players have been very vocal about it but it doesn’t seem to matter. Two former players, Robert Griffin III, and Greg Jennings blasted the decision as well.
The NFL is now allowing teams to have TWO Thursday Night Football games per year. A league that continuously says it is all about improving player safety continues to put the health of its players at risk. Playing 1 game with only 3 days rest isn’t smart. Playing 2 is RIDICULOUS
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) March 28, 2023
.@GregJennings is NOT a fan of the NFL forcing teams to play two Thursday Night Football games per season: pic.twitter.com/3RH6tnpNVl
— The Carton Show (@TheCartonShow) March 29, 2023
I cannot find anyone that seems to be in support of this outside of the owners and even they are not all totally on board.
Owners and Players Blast Decision
New York Giants owner John Mara went public with his comments on the decision. While he did not cite player safety, he was concerned about fans coming to the games on a Thursday night.
New York #Giants owner John Mara rips the #NFL owners who voted to flex Thursday night games:
“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 … Let’s… pic.twitter.com/c8b4fxovMu
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) March 29, 2023
Thursday is a work day. It’s harder for people to stay out late when they have to work the next morning. An owner’s income is based on putting butts in seats for the limited home games each season. Flexing to Thursday may cause more people to skip going to games. Current players are not happy as well. The biggest player to voice concerns was Patrick Mahomes and he did it with simply an emoji.
🤦🏽♂️ https://t.co/7kIyOGpOvV
— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) March 28, 2023
It’s safe to say Mahomes isn’t a fan either. What will the fallout be from this? The owners could reverse their decision in May but that doesn’t seem likely. Players and teams will have to learn how to adapt accordingly and figure out how to best keep their players safe with more Thursday Night Football games.