The National Football League (NFL) is bringing a limited number of late-season Thursday Night Football games to Prime Video. The decision came after a close vote by NFL executives but was narrowly approved by 24 owners.
Under the new option, during Weeks 13 through 17 of the 2023 season, the NFL can feature a Sunday afternoon game on Thursday night. To do so, the NFL needs to file a notice at least 28 days prior to the scheduled game. The previous proposal required only 15 days’ notice.
This means Amazon can swap out a potentially boring game for a more interesting game that was originally scheduled for Sunday.
Scheduled games for these weeks are:
- Week 13 – Seattle Seahawks at Dallas Cowboys
- Week 14 – New England Patriots at Pittsburgh Steelers
- Week 15 – Los Angeles Chargers at Las Vegas Raiders
- Week 16 – New Orleans Saints at Los Angeles Rams
- Week 17 – New York Jets at Cleveland Browns
During an earlier proposal of this new rule, the owner of the New York Giants John Mara, claimed the change is “abusive to fans whose schedules would be disrupted.” Fans who buy tickets for these games would only have 28 days to change any travel plans, which isn’t easy nor inexpensive for die-hard fanatics who will follow their team anywhere.
This will be a trial run for the 2023 season only unless the NFL decides not to “flex” any Thursday night games in which case the option will be available for the 2024 season instead. Each team has the option to decline to participate more than once per season and can only alter the schedule of two games per team. Seven other owners agreed with him and voted against the change: The Jets, Green Day Packers, Chicago Bears, Raiders, Detroit Lions, Cincinnati Bengals, and the Steelers.
NFL has already created flex options for Sunday Night Football games starting back in 2006, which is rarely utilized, and recently added Monday Night Football games to the roster. Changing scheduled games isn’t common by far and isn’t likely to become a steady thing; more like a one-off option here and there.