Wednesday Night Football

Last Sunday was a great day for sports on TV.  It was Week 1 in the NFL, with simultaneous doubleheaders on CBS and FOX.  The US Open men's final, featuring American Ben Shelton, was on ABC.  And TNT had the gold medal game of the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup, a rematch of the 2024 Olympic final between the United States and France.  Of course, all of those events took place at exactly the same time.  (NBC had the World Athletics Ultimate Championships, which only mattered to track & field fans.) 

It was funny to watch those sports media "experts" question why the US Open final and women's basketball game were played during the Week 1 NFL games, as if the networks broadcasting them had any control over when those events are scheduled!  Never mind the fact that the US Open is played at the same time every year and the final is always on an NFL Sunday (either Week 1 or Week 2).  Hell, when the US Open was on CBS, the men's final was scheduled for Sunday at 4:30 so that the NFL could be used as a lead-in!  Last year, ESPN moved the final to ABC and pushed the start time earlier...to 2:00.  The result?  This year's US Open final averaged 3.2 million viewers (due in large part to Shelton).  So, I don't think people had a problem with the fact that it was on at the same time as the early football games.

The women's basketball game, meanwhile, was the result of FIBA's scheduling.  The WNBA suspended its season just before the stretch run to accommodate its players participating in the tournament.  FIBA doesn't care about the NFL schedule.  And shouldn't!  The lack of coordination with the WNBA schedule is the bigger deal and will be addressed moving forward.  This was the last Women's Basketball World Cup played in September.  Future editions will be held later in the year, after the WNBA season is over.

Meanwhile, the NFL really put the "week" into Week 1, which stretched across six days.  They had the Wednesday night Super Bowl rematch between Seattle and New England, which was moved up a day so that the Australia game between the 49ers and Rams could be played on Thursday night/Friday morning (since they couldn't play that on Friday/Saturday due to the restrictions in the Sports Broadcasting Act).  And, of course, a full slate of Sunday afternoon games before Giants-Cowboys on Sunday night and Chiefs-Broncos in the Monday night game.

While an unusual day, this wasn't the first time the NFL season opened on a Wednesday.  In 2008, they played on a Wednesday night because Barack Obama's acceptance speech of his first Presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention was on Thursday.  So, it wasn't unprecedented.  Although, the Wednesday night didn't seem to be as popular.  It was the lowest-rated Kickoff game since 2022, drawing "only" 25 million viewers (on network TV...on a Wednesday night) despite being a Super Bowl rematch.

That rating has led to some of those same "experts" theorizing that the Wednesday night opener was a failed experiment that the NFL will never do again.  On the contrary.  I think the Wednesday night opener will not only return next season, it will become a semi-regular thing moving forward.  For multiple reasons.  For one, the NFL isn't shy about its plans for world domination.  For another, they can only play on Friday in Week 1 if Labor Day is between September 1-3.  So, if Labor Day is on September 4, 5, 6 or 7, the NFL opener will be on Wednesday.

Roger Goodell has made it clear that the NFL intends to continue expanding its international slate.  They also have a multi-year deal for games in Australia (sorry, Rams).  And, Netflix just inked a package of games that includes a Week 1 international game every season.  That international game (likely in Australia) will be on Friday when it can.  When it can't, it'll have to be on Thursday.  Which means the Kickoff game will have to move to Wednesday.

I'm not saying this because I necessarily think playing the Kickoff game on Wednesday is a good idea (although, Week 1 is certainly the easiest time to make a Wednesday game work).  I'm saying this because it's a reality of the calendar.  The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 dictates that the NFL can't play on Friday or Saturday nights between the second weekend in September and the second weekend in December.  Since the season starts after Labor Day, that means they can only play on Friday if Sept. 1 is Saturday, Sunday or Monday.

Then think about the logistics of where the NFL is committed to playing international games.  There's literally no other time when you can go to Australia without it being incredibly disruptive for one or both teams.  As much as the Rams might like to pretend it's not, Australia's pretty far!  It takes a while to get there and for your body to get acclimated.  It'll be the same thing if the NFL ever decides to play an international game in Japan or China.

So, as long as there continues to be an international game in Week 1 (which there will be as long as Netflix is contracted to carry it) and the NFL continues holding those international games in far-away places, they'll be on Thursday or Friday night.  They'll put it on Friday night when/if they can.  But when Friday's not an option, Thursday's the only day that is.  Then, in order to both keep the exclusivity of the Kickoff Game and keep with the tradition of the Super Bowl champion opening their defense in that game, Wednesday night is the only logical place for that to go.  Is it weird?  Yes.  But it's not going anywhere.

To say that the Wednesday night opener was a "failed experiment" is a gross exaggeration.  For one, it wasn't an experiment.  It was the NFL starting something new that will become a semi-regular thing in future years.  Labor Day isn't early enough for them to play a Friday night game in Week 1 again until 2029.  So, we'll see a Wednesday night Kickoff Game for at least the next two seasons.

Now, when/if the NFL inevitably expands the schedule to 18 games, this could become an entirely moot point.  They'll have two options for when to put the 18th game.  They could put it at the end and push the Super Bowl back even further into February (which would put it on President's Day Weekend every year).  Or, they could leave the Super Bowl date when it is and go back to playing on Labor Day Weekend (which seems less likely).  If they were to do that, playing on Friday night in Week 1 wouldn't be a problem and they could have the Kickoff Game on Thursday every year no matter what.

There's something else worth noting here.  The NFL initially said that either the Patriots-Seahawks game or the Rams-49ers game would be on Wednesday.  They opted to put the Kickoff Game on Wednesday to preserve that traditional opener for the Super Bowl champion.  If they'd done it the other way, people would've been up in arms about that, too!  So, they couldn't win either way.  It was either having the opener not involve the Super Bowl champion or having the Super Bowl champion play on Wednesday (then get a week and a half off before Week 2).

Really, it's all up to the calendar.  The NFL may not necessarily want to open the season on a Wednesday, but will when the calendar calls for it.  Because the Week 1 international game isn't going anywhere.  And, with Thanksgiving Eve now a part of the schedule, as well, NFL football on Wednesdays will become more and more of a regular thing moving forward.  Whether it's a "good" idea or not, it's happening regardless.