The NFL needs to adapt one scheduling idea from the CFL that will raise the stakes in more ways than one
Every league can look at a rival professional league and find something to make theirs better. The NFL can do that with the CFL.
Every year, the NFL works to schedule games in ideal time slots to increase viewership and attention for the league. The best matchups land in prime time because they draw the most eyeballs, which means more money and more exposure.
Every major league does this to an extent, but the NFL has a much smaller window with only 18 weeks and 17 regular-season games. Some matchups get held by networks for that 3:25 CT slot because they carry enough prestige on their own. Other leagues have created in-season tournaments to make regular season games feel more impactful, but with so few games on the NFL schedule, that’s harder to pull off.
There is one thing the NFL can do to make at least one game each year feel like it carries extra weight. It’s something the CFL does every single season, and it works.
The CFL’s Labour Day Classic is a model worth studying
The CFL is currently in Week 14 of its season. In a 21-week regular season, that doesn’t necessarily feel special on its own. However, there is one element that stands out above the rest. It’s Labor Day weekend, and in the CFL, that means the Labour Day Classic.
Four matchups happen every single season to maximize the fan experience and elevate how these games feel. On Sunday night, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers took on the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Labour Day Classic, and they will meet the following week in what is called the Banjo Bowl. It was a massive game with a playoff atmosphere, as the Blue Bombers tied it with no time on the clock, and the Roughriders won in overtime.
Last year’s game between the Roughriders and Blue Bombers was an all-timer, with a two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter going the other way. The next week saw the Blue Bombers win the Banjo Bowl in Winnipeg. Those two weeks are massive for both fan bases. It’s not only back-to-back games; there’s a sense of tradition and pride in both matchups that is central to each franchise’s identity.
On Friday night, the Montreal Alouettes took on the BC Lions, instead of the usual Ottawa Redblacks, likely due to the World Cup taking over BC Place for the first seven weeks of the season. On Labor Day, the Toronto Argonauts will face the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and the Edmonton Elks faced the Calgary Stampeders in the Battle of Alberta.
These games matter to every fan base involved because they carry that little bit extra. The Labour Day Classic as a whole has been a tradition since 1949, and it has been a huge part of the fabric of the Canadian Football League.
The NFL doesn’t have anything like this
The closest thing the NFL has is Thanksgiving Day. The Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys play the 11:30 a.m. CT and 3:30 p.m. CT games every single Thanksgiving. However, they don’t have a set opponent every year. It’s a rotating cast of teams designed to get more exposure and excitement for each fan base on Thanksgiving. That’s fine for what it is, but why can’t the NFL make games feel special throughout the rest of the regular season?
I believe there is a simple way to improve the NFL schedule. Every single year, one specific week – maybe it’s the middle of October or the second weekend in November, wherever you want to place it – becomes rivalry weekend. The biggest rivalries take place all on one weekend. The Minnesota Vikings versus the Green Bay Packers, New York Giants versus the Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs versus the Las Vegas Raiders, etc. Make it feel like a big deal.
There are six divisional matchups for each team every single year, and the NFL already has rivalry games on the final weekend of the season, which is great. The problem is that half the games don’t mean anything because playoff seeding has already been decided. Make games feel more important that one weekend a year, and bring out traveling trophies like you see in college football. Make it feel special. That can create another level of excitement for the fan base and expand marketing opportunities for all 32 teams.
It does not take much effort to implement, and you can build this up year after year. You can have one team always serve as the home team, as they do in the CFL, or you can rotate it every season to drive a new version of history within the course of your team’s schedule.
Will it take time to get that squared away? Absolutely. A new tradition always takes time to grab those roots. But making regular season games feel more important beyond “if you lose this game, it’s just harder to make the playoffs” should be a priority for commissioner Roger Goodell. That playoff urgency has its own merits, but if you add other elements and give fans a reason to buy in, you’re only going to expand the game and make it feel more significant.
Sometimes, the little things make all the difference.
