Some late-season Thursday Night Football games could move to Saturday

With the 2016-17 NFL season, it’s time for the league’s TV’s partners to look ahead for the next season and what teams they’ll lobby for. Due to the Dallas Cowboys’ effect on the ratings in the second half of last season, there’s no doubt that all of the networks will want to maximize the number of appearances each can televise. But one story coming out of the Super Bowl is that the NFL could move some late-season Thursday Night Football games to Saturday.

Nothing is etched in stone, but once college football season ends, that means that the NFL could schedule some games in primetime on Saturdays. If that’s the case, then some teams won’t have have to deal with a Thursday night game. And it could mean a higher quality game on a Saturday as compared to Thursday.

Until the schedule is released in the spring, it’s not known how many games will be played on Saturday and if this plan will come to fruition, but it’s one of many that the NFL is throwing around in the offseason.

Another idea that the NFL is kicking around is adopting a 3 p.m./6:30 p.m. ET schedule for its Sunday playoff games, just like on conference championship Sunday.

A couple of other tidbits for 2017, next season’s Mexico City game which will be the Oakland Raiders hosting the New England Patriots. And while last year’s game was on ESPN, the 2017 game in Azteca Stadium is expected to go to CBS.

And while there are other things that the NFL is considering for next season, the main takeaway is that we could see more Saturday night games in 2017, leaving some Thursday nights empty. We’ll see if this becomes reality when the new schedule is the released.

[Sports Business Journal]