NFL - Adopt a Fair Schedule Formula for Thanksgiving

NFL - Adopt a Fair Schedule Formula for Thanksgiving

Started
May 12, 2022
Signatures: 2Next Goal: 5
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Started by Zach Wagner

Every year since 2006, the NFL has played three games on Thanksgiving. And since 2014, the conference restrictions have been removed. Despite that, often times teams, outside of the Lions and Cowboys who are traditional hosts, don't wait very long to appear on Thanskgiving again after appearing on the holiday once. For instance, the night game two years in a row was between the Saints and Falcons. Washington played at Dallas in every even-numbered season from 2016-2020. Also particularly egregious was sending the Packers to Detroit in every odd-numbered season from 2001-13 except 2005 when Atlanta played there. I am a Packers fan, but even I think they don't need to be on Thanksgiving that often. Also recently, the Bears played at the Lions three times in a four-year stretch. Meanwhile there are still three teams who have not played on Thanksgiving in my lifetime - the Cleveland Browns, whose last appearance came in 1989, the year before I was born, the Jacksonville Jaguars, who have never appeared on the holiday, and the Los Angeles Rams, who last appeared in 1975. Of the four teams not named the Lions or Cowboys scheduled to play on Thanksgiving in 2022, only one, the Patriots, will be making its first Thanksgiving appearance for the first time in at least a decade - and exactly a decade. I want the NFL to start more or less rotating the teams who play on Thanksgiving outside the traditional hosts. This would be accomplished by for the afternoon games, having Detroit and Dallas host the home opponent on their schedule with the longest active Thanksgiving drought, while the night game would have the team with the longest remaining drought facing the opponent on their schedule with the longest drought. Had this been in place for 2022, the Jaguars would be making their first ever Thanksgiving appearance by playing at the Lions, while the Buccaneers would be appearing for the first time since 2006 at the Cowboys, and the night game would be the Rams, appearing for the first time since 1975, playing at the Chiefs, appearing for the first time since 2006. There are plenty of other time slots for popular teams to appear on national TV, I want Thanksgiving to be the one day where all teams outside of Detroit and Dallas more or less rotate.

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Signatures: 2Next Goal: 5
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