The Thursday Night Football schedule has often been criticized for having less than stellar matchups during the season, but the NFL has loved the rating that it brings to the NFL Network and that is why they are hoping to add more games to the schedule in the future.
Many players and coaches have come out to say that the short week for Thursday games is tough and they don't like it, but clearly the NFL doesn't care, as Pro Football Talk reports that the league is thinking of adding more games to its schedule of 13, including possible doubleheaders on Thursday night in the future. The team has 13 games on the network and along with Thanksgiving matchups and other games, all teams play at least one game with the short week and if the league decided to add more games, it could have teams doing it multiple times.
The league feels it is in their best interest to put on more games, as they own the rights to the most lucrative live sport in America and now that they have a network, they want to keep more of those games rather than farming them out to CBS, FOX, NBC and ESPN. The Network has gotten some very solid ratings from the games despite some not being great matchups and if the league decides to add more games, they could even sell those to the broadcast partners to make even more money than they already do, as those big four are always looking for more games and the NFL is a cash cow.
Players don't like the short weeks and adding some money to the mix could help get teams more in favor of adding games to the schedule. This week the Seattle Seahawks and the Arizona Cardinals play on Thursday for a divisional game in the NFC West and after that will be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosting the Carolina Panthers. The Thursday game is a good way for the NFL to start the week early and dominate headlines and now they will try and add more games to that mix.
