Giants owner unsuccessful in attempt to stop horrible NFL rule change
When New York Giants owner John Mara left the league meetings in Phoenix, he made one thing abundantly clear. There was no world in which he believed that Thursday Night Football should have the "flex option." But following the latest set of meetings in Minnesota today, it seems that Mara and a few other owners […]
When New York Giants owner John Mara left the league meetings in Phoenix, he made one thing abundantly clear.
There was no world in which he believed that Thursday Night Football should have the "flex option."
But following the latest set of meetings in Minnesota today, it seems that Mara and a few other owners have lost out.
Per Adam Schefter of ESPN, the owners have passed the motion to approve flex scheduling of Thursday night games with a whopping 75% of owners voting in favor of the move.
In case you're unfamiliar with "flex" scheduling, let me explain. Up until this year, only Sunday Night Football had the ability to "flex" games or move originally scheduled contests in favor of better matchups once the meaty portion of the season has arrived.
For instance, let's say Lions vs Packers is a week 13 Sunday Night Football game when the schedule is released in May. Well, if the season rolls around and one of those teams has vastly underperformed within the two-week mark of their matchup, Sunday Night Football and NBC would swap that game with one earlier in the day that features a marquee matchup.
Sunday Night Football's "flex" exclusivity changed earlier this offseason when the NFL let Monday Night Football be a part of the "flex" party, and as of today, so will Amazon and Thursday Night Football. And while this is a part of the leagues initiative to create the best possible viewing experience for primetime games, it falls flat in one key area:
Player safety.
For a league that touts its ability to make the game safer through the evolution of technology and rule changes, they have walked that back with their actions as it relates to games played and now the possibility of teams playing on short weeks more than once with this change.
New York Giants owner John Mara was openly against the change when it was initially proposed at the spring meetings, and he stayed true today, citing player concerns and an overall lack of safety protocols.
But if we know anything about the NFL and their ownership groups, it's that the bottom line outweighs everything, even if it's something as important as player safety. Those 24 owners had just better hope this rule doesn't come back to bite them.
