I figured since the new NFL schedule is coming out soon this would be a good thread to discuss “primetime games.” Each year the question comes up of whether or not our Thanksgiving Game counts as a “primetime game” or not. From what I have seen from the schedule makers is…“it depends.” If its a desirable team like the Cowboys, the T-Day game is not a prime time game. Last year they had 5 night games and the T-Day game. However, the NFL schedule makers have shown that they are willing to call our T-Day game a prime time game if needed.
Here is what the head of NFL scheduling said about the Lions not having a prime time game last year. Notice the language change to “national window.”
“Unattractive is not the right word,” North said of the Lions. “The real thing for us is, again, we look at them on national windows and we can never lose sight of the fact that Thanksgiving afternoon window — that 12:30 window in Detroit — most years is the Number Two or Number Three most-watched NFL game every year, so there’s no hesitation to put the Lions in a national window like that. . . . You could certainly make a pretty compelling argument they’re gonna get a lot more eyeballs for that one than they would have if they had one kind-of stand-alone Monday night game or one kind-of stand-alone Thursday night game. I acknowledge that it ‘looks odd’ to have them not in prime-time, but they’re gonna be playing in one of the five most-watched games of this season. That’s pretty good, too.”