Viewers at home will be hearing much more from NFL head coaches during games in the upcoming 2024-25 season.
Coaches previously had the choice to talk to sideline reporters either during their way to the locker room going at the end of the first half, or heading back onto the field to start the third quarter. But neither option was a requirement for coaches to do.
This is set to change according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. While taking a deeper dive into the ongoing NFL Sunday Ticket trial, Florio discovered that NFL V.P. of broadcast rights, policies, and compliance Cathy Yancy announced a change to the league’s policy regarding coaches’ media obligations during games, which will include both coaches in every game being required to talk to reporters during the game.
“This year, we have a new policy going into effect where all of the clubs are going to have to make a head coach available live for an interview during the game,” Yancy said at the trial, transcribed by Florio. “Each team has to provide a head coach; one in the first half, one in the second half. And that’s for all teams, and it’s available for all TV partners.”
Yancy later explained this change to the league’s policy for head coaches, calling it a change that is “good for the broadcast” and “good for the fans”.
“Because it’s good for the broadcast, it’s good for the fans,” said Yancy. “Fans want to be closer to the game, they want to get to know the players and the coaches. It’s very important that they kind of have that relationship, and they want to hear. It’s really good sound. If you’re a football fan or even if you’re a casual fan, it’s great to hear from the coaches. There’s a lot of emotion.”
Obviously, this change won’t be overly popular amongst every NFL head coach out there. For years, we saw the likes of Bill Belichick trying his very best to play things as close to the vest as he possibly could when it came to discussions with the media.
While many of the new-age coaches have been much more accessible to media members, there will always be some old-school coaches out there who will see this obligation as more of a chore than anything else.
Depending on how most coaches approach this new responsibility, this could indeed be a very nice touch for broadcasts this coming season. But it could also seemingly lead to many generic answers with little substance, which could be more of an annoyance to both coaches and viewers than it’s worth.
