Executive confirms the NFL listened to the Bengals’ schedule request and balanced the scales with rivalry matchup
NFL executive vice president of media distribution Hans Schroeder confirmed the league prioritized featuring the Cincinnati Bengals hosting a primetime game against the Baltimore Ravens on the 2026 regular season schedule.
NFL executive vice president of media distribution Hans Schroeder confirmed the league prioritized featuring the Cincinnati Bengals hosting a primetime game against the Baltimore Ravens on the 2026 regular season schedule.
Cincinnati has played night games in Baltimore in each of the last four seasons, winning just the most recent primetime matchup last year on Thanksgiving. This year, the scales will be balanced when the Bengals host Baltimore for the season’s final “Thursday Night Football” game of the year on New Year’s Eve.
“We went into this year saying it’s one of the things we do need to fix,” Schroeder said to The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. “It’s one of the things we should put our thumb on the scale and probably have a Thursday night that flips it a little bit so it’s a little bit more equitable between the Bengals and Ravens. . .So we loved the idea when we saw it ending up on New Year’s Eve. We thought it’d be a fun way — in the Jungle in Week 17 — as a way to end ‘Thursday Night Football’ for the year.”
Schroeder and the people in charge of making the 272-game slate knew it had to be done, because it was supposed to happen last year.
Retribution for last year’s close call
Last year’s schedule had Cincinnati suiting up for Thanksgiving football for the first time in 15 years. It extended the primetime in Baltimore streak to an unexpected four years. According to Schroeder, it was originally planned to be played in Paycor Stadium.
“Up until the last 24 hours, that Thanksgiving game last year was in Cincinnati,” Schroeder said. “And we just saw something at the end when we tried to make the overall schedule a little bit better, including for the Bengals, it flipped it.”
Bengals 2026 primetime games
Cincinnati is scheduled to play in three primetime games during the 2026 regular season
- Week 10 vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (Sunday Night Football)
- Week 11 at Washington Commanders (Monday Night Football)
- Week 17 vs. Baltimore Ravens (Thursday Night Football)
The decision was met with criticism from Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who also expressed clear desire to play an international game for the first time in his career.
This year, he gets to play the Ravens at home under the lights, and travel overseas for work.
The NFL and its broadcasting partners clearly value Cincinnati’s rivalry with Baltimore. Fans of all kinds tune it to watch the AFC North showdown when it’s available for the entire country.
If the league is going to continue highlighting it, giving the Bengals a chance to play it on their home turf is only fair. This a good first step in the process.