The NFL Needs to Kill Thursday Night Football

by Matt Fischer

Roger Goodell likes to give out punishments. Well Commish, you need to give Thursday Night Football the death penalty.

TNF has horrible games that nobody cares about unless you’re betting on the game or a fan of one of the two unfortunate teams that has to turn around and play four days after your last game.

I’m going to watch my lone Thursday Night Football game of the season because my favorite team, the Kansas City Chiefs, will beat the Oakland Raiders. I haven’t watched any of the other Thursday games this season nor will I the remainder of the season. If I’m watching football during the week, it’s college football.

Leave Thursday night to the kickoff game where the defending Super Bowl Champions host a game and then be done with it…outside of Thanksgiving.

More Monday, Less Thursday

I know the money hungry NFL won’t want to lose anything but think of how much you will gain with my solution…a Monday Night Football doubleheader for 16 weeks!

That’s right, eliminate the Thursday game and double up on Monday night. You’ll be more inclusive NFL…think about it. Move kickoff up so viewers on the East Coast don’t have to wait until midnight for the outcome. West Coast fans don’t have to miss the start of a Monday night game.

With players trying to recover from injuries, they need extra time to perform. Thursday Night Football prevents that by often making players perform twice in five days. Give them extra time so you can improve your product.

NFL you can strengthen your brand by continuing to dominate Sunday’s and taking over Monday night across the country. Imagine having Monday nights like this next season:

Atlanta Falcons at New Orleans Saints and Kansas City Chiefs at Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers at New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks at Oakland Raiders

You can rotate nights where you have divisional match-ups with AFC vs. NFC match-ups. Viewership will go way up. Give people the games they want to see and eliminate the horrible football that’s become the norm on Thursday nights.