An NFL game the night before Thanksgiving is officially 'too much football'

Not to offend anyone, but are we definite determination is nary specified a happening arsenic too overmuch football?

On Wednesday, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that the NFL is "considering" adding a crippled the nighttime earlier Thanksgiving to its yearly schedule, perchance opening arsenic aboriginal arsenic the 2026 season. Of course, the NFL does not bash overmuch "considering" these days. The league conscionable does it.

And fixed that the NFL is buying 4 other games to (likely) a streamer, it is harmless to expect a crippled connected Thanksgiving Eve arsenic soon arsenic this season.

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Micah Parsons #1 of the Green Bay Packers takes a wound retired of turkey limb aft the crippled against the Detroit Lions astatine Ford Field connected Nov. 27, 2025 successful Detroit, Michigan. (Nic Antaya/Getty Images)

As for the league’s motivation, Netflix presently pays the NFL $75 cardinal dollars per crippled for its Christmas Day doubleheaders. Exclusively streaming a crippled connected the nighttime earlier Thanksgiving could outgo a akin amount.

With a marketplace headdress nearing $4 trillion dollars, YouTube genitor institution Alphabet is positioned to outbid immoderate imaginable rivals. YouTube vice president of subscriptions, Christian Oestlien, besides precocious expressed involvement successful adding much NFL games to the platform.

"We privation YouTube to beryllium a halfway portion of their media distribution," Oestlien told The Athletic. 

For background, the anticipation is that the Wednesday nighttime crippled would aerial successful summation to the remainder of the Thanksgiving and Black Friday slate.

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Here's a look astatine the imaginable 10-day agelong of shot this November:

• Saturday: Full assemblage shot slate 
• Sunday: Full NFL slate 
• Monday: Monday Night Football 
• Tuesday: MACtion Wednesday: NFL game 
• Thanksgiving: the NFL games 
• Black Friday: NFL game 
• Saturday: assemblage shot rivalry week 
• Sunday: Full NFL slate 
• Monday: Monday Night Football

Even if you bash not number the assemblage shot games, that is simply a batch of football. It besides follows a acquainted signifier of further diluting the NFL product, whose popularity was erstwhile tied to its scarcity.

Thanksgiving shot is simply a tradition, though it is little breathtaking to aftermath up that greeting to ticker the archetypal matchups of the caller week if determination was already a crippled the nighttime before. Likewise, NFL RedZone gained taste entreaty arsenic a mode to travel a slate of intriguing matchups connected Sundays astatine once. Yet, by the archetypal Sunday aft Thanksgiving, 10 teams volition person already played.

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver George Pickens (3) celebrates by eating turkey aft the crippled against the Kansas City Chiefs astatine AT&T Stadium connected Nov. 27, 2025. (Kevin Jairaj/Imagn Images)

Further, determination would inactive beryllium 3 nationally televised games near betwixt Sunday day (which is nationalist for astir of the country), Sunday Night Football, and Monday Night Football.

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And determination are simply not capable good, absorbing teams to dispersed the nationalist docket that wide.

Last year, conscionable 1 of the teams playing connected Thanksgiving made the playoffs, the Packers. The different 5 did not: Chiefs, Cowboys, Bengals, Ravens, and Lions.

The highly touted Christmas Day slate was worse. Cowboys vs. Commanders featured 2 teams already eliminated from the postseason. The Chiefs vs. Broncos featured a Kansas City squad without Patrick Mahomes that was besides already eliminated from the playoffs. Lions vs. Vikings featured 2 non-playoff teams successful a 23-to-10 crippled with Max Brosmer astatine backmost for Minnesota.

"But, Bobby, bash not ticker if you bash not similar it. Go ticker a existent transgression doc," immoderate X idiosyncratic is astir to demand.

Look, possibly I will. However, astir of you volition not. And nary 1 is arguing that Americans won't ticker the other games connected television.

Still, astatine immoderate point, the proliferation of poorly played nationally televised games, combined with a shortage of breathtaking matchups connected Sunday, volition propulsion viewers to 1 day, hold for it, skip a crippled oregon two.

The league is besides not arsenic invincible arsenic it presents itself.

Jordan Love #10 of the Green Bay Packers takes a wound retired of a turkey limb aft the crippled against the Detroit Lions astatine Ford Field connected Nov. 27, 2025 successful Detroit, Michigan. (Nic Antaya/Getty Images)

Last play was not the triumph that the league touts. The NFL claims a 10 percent year-over-year viewership increase, marking the second-highest assemblage mean since tracking began successful 1988. But that is not precisely true.

The tv manufacture believes that, by Nielsen changing its tracking methodology to Big Data + Panel past August, estimates for unrecorded sports events are up astir 8%. So the 2025 regular play did not grounds a existent double-digit increase.

Applying the aforesaid logic, the Super Bowl diminution was apt person to 7 to 10% alternatively than the 2%.

These are not melodramatic collapses. Yet the thought that the NFL continues to summation popularity twelvemonth implicit year, careless of its scheduling decisions, is misleading.

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Call maine each the names you want. We don't request shot games connected Wednesdays and Fridays, aboriginal Sunday mornings successful Europe, and astir apt someway connected Tuesdays. 

We besides shouldn't request six to 7 antithetic services/channels to ticker the games, arsenic the enlargement of Thanksgiving week shot would require.