http://nfl.si.com/2014/02/05/cbs-nfl-thursday-night-football-tv-broadcast/?eref=sihp
This could have HUGE implications on Thursday night football for colleges. It was one thing when the NFL broadcast was on the NFL Network, but to move it to Prime Time broadcast tv? That could be a death sentence for ESPN's TNF
Forums:
DISCLAIMER: Forum topics may not have been written or edited by The Key Play staff.
Comments
I'm not so sure though, I feel like recently a lot of Thursday night football games (for the NFL) have been rather lousy.
Probably because it was on the NFL Network, so they didn't want to put highlight games on there.
That said, with it moving to CBS, you KNOW they are going to make this yet another big showcase game every week, potentially with flex possibilities later in the season.
Fair point. It will be interesting to see what happens
Thursday night won't be part of the flex scheduling, the same way that Monday night is not. They only change the time of the game, not the date.
I agree that the Thursday NFL games have been bad, but fantasy football will take some fans away from the College Thursday night crowd.
i don't have evidence, but i'm guessing a lousy NFL game will draw far better ratings than a great college football game...especially on broadcast TV. ESPN has to be taking notice, especially since not many Thursday night games are great, but rather very good at best. i hope the ACC ensured no Wednesday night games in our latest contract. at least we can use that as leverage for getting our ACC Network if nothing else...
College football ramifications aside, this is pretty great news for those of us without NFL Network. We can now watch those piss-poor matchups between two teams running on 4 days rest without having to stream it.
Buster will always get a leg from me
Ugh, I hate Thursday night NFL games - they're often crappy games, they screw up fantasy big time, and they compete with cfb.
I don't think College Football is scared. They will run their games. Plenty of viewers to watch.
They should make Friday night NFL games -
It would give the players an extra day to prepare/recover from a Sunday game, PLUS who cares about the college games on Fridays.... (Minus VT/UVA this year)
Because high school football.
College football was not on CBS on Thursday nights. The NFl wont have much of an impact on college football.
I think if they were threatend about ratings ESPN would not have expanded to multiple Thursday nite games in recent years. I know alot of NFL fans that dont follow CFB and vice versa ... and didnt they already have NFL on Thurs nights anyway? GO HOKIES!
If they are moving these games is the NFL network going to fold?
Well, read a little closer. It looks like CBS gets the first 8 Thursday Night games, plus an additional 2 later in the year, then NFL Network gets the remaining Thursday night games. So NFL Network still has some leverage here.
One rumor I heard was that ESPN might try to get the NFL Thursday night package for ABC. That would have been a slap in the face to college fans.
I'm curious to see more about this deal, though. Typically, the NFL doesn't schedule any games other than Sunday in week 17, to give them maximum flexibility, and also to keep everyone on a relatively even playing field going into the playoffs (in theory). So, 16 weeks. But, week 1 and Thanksgiving are already claimed by NBC. Plus, Christmas is a Thursday this year, and the NFL usually avoid Christmas Day unless it's a Sunday, in which they put one really late game on.
That leaves 13 or 14 weeks. I'm betting the way the article was not worded properly, and there are 16 games on Thursday and Saturday combined.
But with only 8 games, CBS would only have to delay their Thursday night lineup to November (most of which probably wouldn't normally start until the last week of September), which would then give them longer original runs in the second half of the season.
And for the record, I have generally not been a fan of NFL on Thursday nights, outside of week 1 and Thanksgiving. Only gives you two days to set a fantasy lineup.
Plus it's CBS. I didn't watch NFL on NFL Network, I won't watch it on CBS. CBS Sports coverage is ridiculous.
ESPN sent me an update through their app which clarifies it to say CBS gets 8 Thursday night games (I'm assuming weeks 2-9), and NFL Network gets 6 (weeks 10-16 except for Thanksgiving), plus a Saturday doubleheader in week 16.
But, the NFL Network games are still being produced by CBS. Which means Phil Simms every Thursday, and probably most Sundays. Boo.
This is disappointing, as I feel as though Mike Mayock is a pretty good announcer. Losing one of his telecasts to Phil Simms saddens me. I couldn't have stated your last two sentences any better. I absolutely abhor Phil Simms as a commentator. He is a vacuum that sucks all fun and personality out of a broadcast and replaces them with vapid, mind-numbingly dull, insubstantial analysis. How he is a member of the CBS A-team completely baffles me. I can only watch a game he is working on mute.
I vaguely remember a game he was broadcasting where someone hit him with a snowball in the middle of the telecast. I do not have the internet skills to find a clip of this, so maybe a fellow TKPer can help me out. That lone snowball thrower quite succintly summed up my opinion of Phil Simms.
A few years ago, on a local radio show (Elliot in the Morning, which I do not listen to regularly, or care for) they would do a weekly NFL segment with Boomer Esiason. Boomer was a natural with great charisma who had a great rapport with the radio shows' staff. When Boomer got called up to be on the CBS NFL Pre-game show, he had to stop doing the weekly call-in. They tried to replace him the following week with Phil Simms. All I remember is the radio host making a small, harmless joke to which Phil responded quite haughtily, "I don't find that funny!" followed by about 30 seconds of awkward silence. That was the highlight of the segment. They never called Phil back. It was so bad that the radio host apologized for days.
TL:DR version: In the Cake vs. Pie debate, Phil Simms is Team Saltine Cracker.
Alright. I feel better. I had to get that out.
Doesn't show him getting hit, but I don't know if such a video actually exists.
Lol at Team Saltine Cracker.
I'm just glad CBS hasn't traded Jim Nantz for Joe Buck, because a Buck/Simms combo would just be horrible.
The NFL thursday night games are normally division game, as each NFL team is guaranteed a Primetime game. This is when the bottom rung teams like Bills, and Browns get a game and it's usually against a team in their division to make viewers tune into to see the Ravens steamroll Browns or Patriots level poor Bills. As long as ESPN figures out the schedule ahead of time to not have similar ACC regions go up against pro teams from their immediate area it shouldn't be much of a factor. Because if Skins or Ravens are playing Thur night at same time Hokies are playing it will cause a drop in ratings which could affect interest. I'm sure ESPN and CBS will consult to have different regions on against one another.
Looking at this past year's 13 NFL Network games, it's barely above 50% divisional. Ironically, the Bills and Browns played each other on one of those games.
Ironically, i meant coincidentally.
I'm thinking the NCAA is gonna have a shitfest.
I dont see much of a change though..sure, the nfl will have a larger draw but how many more will tune in then they do already? Secondly, college fans will continue to watch their teams big Thursday night game. Major cities that have an nfl team likely dont have a college team that they follow. Third, college games are more regional where the nfl draws a national spotlight regardless.
Well, just play the Hurricanes and Dolphins on the same night, and see if there's any affect on The U's attendance.
If you're saying the U attendance would fall, all I have to say is that it would be difficult to have attendance fall below 0.
Didn't like the whole NFL Thursday night thing to begin with. It's cool to open the season with, but after that I'm over it. I like Phil Simms on Thursday nights even less.
I wonder to which night CBS will move its ratings winning Thursday night line-up.
As I said above, they may not move things around too much. If I'm looking at the calendar right, their first non-football Thursday would be November 6. It's not unheard of for dramas to start that late into the year, and it would give them fewer reruns in January and March.
Sitcoms roll a little different, but maybe they'll load up their good ones on Mondays, and then spread them out in November when they have room to bring back their second tier.
Hmmmm, well maybe the NCAA should respond by scheduling a home VT thursday night game and mandate that they wear all-maroon-everything. That'll show the NFL!