The writer here seems to think the way the league talks about the Thanksgiving game is that they want to take it away from the Lions
Taking that idea further, maybe that’s why the refs screw the Lions so much. Help make a team futile for decades and lessen the outrage when tearing a traditional game from them
I’m curious… how many of you guys care about having games in ‘prime time?’ Honestly, I don’t. I don’t really care what other fans think of the Lions, and don’t really care if they watch our games.
Now, I do care what other players and coaches think about the franchise, because that affects free agency and coach signings. But it doesn’t bother me that we don’t get “prime” spots.
If we turn into a consistent 10+ win team, I am sure we will have all kinds of night games. But even if we didn’t, I wouldn’t care. What do you guys think?
WOW flapping harsh ! “The league has no use for the Lions in prime time.”
I agree winning changes this.
Couldn’t care less about “prime time”, or “Thanksgiving” games.
I do care about fairly called games.
I suspect that is why that want as few people as possible to witness their crimes.
Most of the country considers the Lions a joke. We got Hard Knocks. We got the 2024 draft. We get Thanksgiving every year (most people likely choose to eat during the Lions game so they can watch the Dallas game in full). We should be thankful for what we have.
We won’t have many non Lions fans care until we start consistently winning. All the minutia starts to take care of itself when you start winning.
I don’t particularly care either. But the theory that the league is ‘punishing us’ not for being historically bad, but because they want to strip us of Thanksgiving is an ugly thought. It’s the second time in three years we didn’t get a prime time slot. 13 teams have five this year
Dan Campbell said “I think it’s great, we go out there at 1 o’clock, put 'em away, and go home to watch film and start prepping for next week.” LOL
Tactical advantage preparation time.
That said, I like it when we have prime time games. It’s fun for me to go out in a different place and watch, no matter how torturous the wait can be.
Not a big deal. I think the NFL exec explained it well. Besides, if Dan’s happy, I’m happy.
Everything that is coming out of his mouth is complete BS. I get why the Lions don’t have Primetime games. We have sucked for a long time and there really is no major headliners on this roster right now. We used to have Stafford, Calvin and Suh. Aidan Hutchinson was just picked and he is probably already the face of this franchise.
I personally thought we would have one early Primetime game since we are on Hard Knocks, but we don’t. That doesn’t bug me. What bugs me is how the hell does Chicago get 3 Primetime games. They are contenders for the #1 overall pick. They completely stripped their roster and didn’t have cap space or high draft picks to add much back to it. Justin Fields completely flopped in year one. Doesn’t make any sense, but whatever.
The reason I am saying that this guy is spouting complete BS is look at the Cowboys. They play FIVE games in primetime, not counting their Thanksgiving day game. I understand they are the Cowboys, and they have a much larger market to appeal too. Regardless, this guy should be honest. Say the Lions have a game in the national spotlight and until they start being more successful they feel they have enough national TV time. Don’t make up some BS.
Every year, bro. 
#PartyBus
+10000
Ditto
He also said you have to play your way into prime time … you cant trade or draft your way to prime time.
Um, okay. Denver sucked, and they have 7 spotlight games! Seven.
Who gives a rat’s ass.
The speculation that this is a prelude to the league taking away Thanksgiving is just that: speculation. It’s just Florio throwing crap against the wall for clicks, which is kind of his jam. (I enjoy PFT a lot, don’t get me wrong, but rumor-mongering and shit-stirring is literally their business model.)
As far as the lack of prime time games? I’m a little surprised the NFL would be so blatant about it, but in all seriousness, who the hell wants to watch the Lions play football? Even in the local market, most casual NFL fans would rather watch something else. The formula for getting more national/prime-time games isn’t a secret: be relevant. Until the Lions produce a product worth watching by anybody outside of diehards, there’s not much to argue about.
i’m firmly in both camps. I don’t care too much and think that it will actually advantage the Lions. But I also think it’s fucked, If I read between the lines correctly, the author is also hinting that the league wants the Thanksgiving day game. And getting shorted of prime time games - And maybe even getting shafted by the refs is part of the league ‘punishing’ us for refusing to give up the tradition we started
I would say football fans. I don’t know if I’m a different kind of fan, but I’m watching every primetime game regardless of who’s playing. It’s football. I’m not gonna not watch a game just because one of the teams had a poor record the year before or historically hasn’t done well.
I would wager some random Carolina fan cares about the Lions about as much as I care about the Panthers: Not much. But it’s still football and I’m watching
It’s the impact of Denver adding Russell Wilson as their QB, and their schedule, but mainly adding Wilson imo.
The Lions are about middle of the pack for local TV ratings at 20.9 As compared to the bottom four:
Jets 7.1
Giants 8.5
Chargers 8.5
Rams 10.5
Obviously NY and LA are bigger markets but I can see why the league wants to fluff these teams
I am watching it just because its football as well. But people need to remember that the Lions are not the only team playing in the game. Using your Panthers analogy, if we are playing the Panthers those fans will be tuning in as well. And if we are playing the Falcons, Bucs or Saints…Panthers fans are going to tune in the same way some Lions fans tune in when a team is playing one of our division rivals. There are also gamblers and fantasy football people that will tune in…as well as fans of certain players. I know for certain that whenever Robert Tonyan is playing there is a ratings boost that week. 