The NFL should rethink how it decides the matchups for Thanksgiving

[pf9]

the two years before that, it was Minnesota at Detroit, it should have happened only in the first year because it was MIN's first Turkey day game in 16 years.

[pf9]

so to me, fairness matters when it comes to scheduling the Thanksgiving games

[squire12]

2 hours ago, pf9 said:

so to me, fairness matters when it comes to scheduling the Thanksgiving games

Are you wanting fairness for you as a fan ?  Or the teams?  The players?

Detroit and Dallas have the tradition, and the league "rewards" them with the hosting based on the long ago established "agreements" with the NFL.

[pf9]

I want fairness in the term of every team other than Dallas or Detroit appearing on Thanksgiving with relatively the same frequency. Some teams have appeared on the day more often than others.

[squire12]

10 minutes ago, pf9 said:

I want fairness in the term of every team other than Dallas or Detroit appearing on Thanksgiving with relatively the same frequency. Some teams have appeared on the day more often than others.

Ok.  You do understand the short week scheduling dynamics.

Divisional games are easier to prepare based on familiarity.  Geographic factors for the traveling team.

Frequency of teams having Detroit or Dallas on their schedule.

NFL also wants attractive opponents for Detroit and Dallas, ones that will bring a large TV audience.

[pf9]

TV ratings are nice and all, but teams like the Browns, Rams, and Jaguars have been sacrificed in the name of ratings.

I thought it would have been more fair to put Chargers-Browns on Thanksgiving night in 2012 rather than Patriots-Jets. The Chargers at that point had not appeared on Thanksgiving since 1969, their last year in the AFL (and it turned out to be their last Thanksgiving game as a San Diego team, they finally broke the drought in 2017 after moving to LA), while the Browns had not appeared since 1989 (ironically the year before I was born), whereas the Patriots and Jets had just both appeared on Thanksgiving two years before. To this day the Browns have still not appeared in a Thanksgiving game in my lifetime.

[squire12]

25 minutes ago, pf9 said:

TV ratings are nice and all, but teams like the Browns, Rams, and Jaguars have been sacrificed in the name of ratings.

I thought it would have been more fair to put Chargers-Browns on Thanksgiving night in 2012 rather than Patriots-Jets. The Chargers at that point had not appeared on Thanksgiving since 1969, their last year in the AFL (and it turned out to be their last Thanksgiving game as a San Diego team, they finally broke the drought in 2017 after moving to LA), while the Browns had not appeared since 1989 (ironically the year before I was born), whereas the Patriots and Jets had just both appeared on Thanksgiving two years before. To this day the Browns have still not appeared in a Thanksgiving game in my lifetime.

Do you not understand that the TV companies want top drawing matchups vs what you think is a fair rotation for these games?

It is a $$ driven league.  Larger audiences means more money for owners/teams, which means a bigger pool of $$ in cap space for the players.

You as the consumer are "unfortunately "lower on the list in terms of priorities. 

[pf9]

The TV companies could very well be undermined by their affiliates. Stations like those in Cleveland could very well refuse to air Thanksgiving games until their local team is finally granted one themselves. And there's all kinds of holiday-themed programming available that these stations could preempt the NFL for.

[pf9]

I also criticize the fact that the NHL Winter Classic has featured few unique teams, especially now since my Blue Jackets are the only non-Sun Belt team that has not played outdoors.

[pf9]

Furthermore, money causes more problems than it solves (read: the decisions of the NHL and NBA to play in non-traditional timeframes even though their farm leagues canceled the rest of their seasons, leading to such things as the NBA and NHL drafts being delayed from summer [had the NHL and NBA quit, the drafts could have been held as early as July] and each league's finals being held at a time where they should be playing the preseasons for next year, the possibility that the College Football Playoff would go on without the Big Ten or Pac-12, though that has been canceled out, and mobile games which claim they will give you money for playing, but you can never earn enough to cash out).

Edited October 4, 2020 by pf9

[squire12]

11 minutes ago, pf9 said:

The TV companies could very well be undermined by their affiliates. Stations like those in Cleveland could very well refuse to air Thanksgiving games until their local team is finally granted one themselves. And there's all kinds of holiday-themed programming available that these stations could preempt the NFL for.

If the affiliates want to not run the NFL game and likely take a loss on local ad revenue, that would be a choice they could make.   Choosing to run alternate programming for something that very likely draws a lower viewership seems an odd stance to make for a business.  

[squire12]

11 minutes ago, pf9 said:

I also criticize the fact that the NHL Winter Classic has featured few unique teams, especially now since my Blue Jackets are the only non-Sun Belt team that has not played outdoors.

I am not familiar with the NHL winter classic.   My guess is that it comes back to $$.  Marquee teams and high profile players are going to be the push to get the best ratings possible.  

[pf9]

I wouldn't blame the stations in Cleveland if they chose not to show Thanksgiving NFL games in protest of their local team not having had one since 1989. When the NFL chose to suspend the Browns for three years following the Modell incident, they didn't know it at the time, but it would set the Browns back for decades to come.

What should have happened was Modell be forced to sell the Browns to an owner willing to keep the team in Cleveland. The Browns would have played 1996-98 at Ohio State (and be treated to many of the Buckeyes' game day traditions during this time, including the dotting of the "I"), while their new stadium was being built. Meanwhile, Modell would be the owner of a Baltimore Ravens that began play in 1998 when what is now M&T Bank Stadium opened. In that scenario, the Ravens would be part of the AFC East, being with Baltimore's former team, the Colts, for 4 years. Once the Texans began play, the Colts would have moved to the AFC North, and the Dolphins to the AFC South. The NFL would have been more inclined to keep Baltimore in the AFC East because it was closer to Buffalo, NYC, and Boston than Miami was. So in essence, Modell screwed the Jaguars out of an in-state division rival.

I'd mention one other notable problem caused by money, but it would probably get me in trouble if I said it.

[pf9]

NBC would have been happy to have an NFL team in Columbus (even if temporary) during the last two seasons they had the AFC rights, because at the time they had just acquired ownership of their Columbus affiliate, WCMH-TV, when it bought out the Outlet Company in 1996. NBC has since sold the station and the other two it acquired from Outlet.

Edited October 4, 2020 by pf9

[squire12]

7 minutes ago, pf9 said:

Furthermore, money causes more problems than it solves (read: the decisions of the NHL and NBA to play in non-traditional timeframes even though their farm leagues canceled the rest of their seasons, leading to such things ans the NBA and NHL drafts being delayed from summer [had the NHL and NBA quit, the drafts could have been held as early as July], and the possibility that the College Football Playoff would go on without the Big Ten or Pac-12, though the latter has been canceled out).

in the altruistic sense, more money can cause more problems.   But professional franchise owners (whether they be individuals are groups) are still looking at their bottom line on profits.  

so you are saying the NHL and NBA should have canceled their seasons and conducted their drafts and other off seasons activities in their normal manner and forego the option to generate some revenue by conducting the remaining part of their seasons and playoffs as they did?   How does sacrificing that revenue help the owners, teams, (league overall), players, staffs of teams, etc?

*************

in the end, the NFL or (NHL/NBA) are calculating that scheduling as they do draws more views and thus higher ad revenue vs potentially catering to a specific fan of an individual team.    Those leagues are willing to gain 5-10 viewers at the risk of losing you.    As I mentioned before, you as an individual consumer is just not that high of a priority relative to the larger NFL potential national audience.