The NFL announced Tuesday that the final “Sunday Night Football” game of the season has been canceled, according to CNN.
The league had yet to announce who would play during the primetime game next Sunday, but with the chance that none of the matchups would have playoff implications for one or both of the teams, they opted not to schedule the game.
The other problem the league faced was broadcasting a game on New Year’s Eve, which would invite lower number of viewers traditionally on that night.
Instead, fans can settle in for seven games at kick-off at 1 p.m. eastern Sunday and a total of 9 games starting at 4:25 p.m. eastern time.
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12 comments:
No i wont and have nt all year..
Better write up..
NFL cancels Sunday Night Football this week
By David Goldman December 27, 2017: 6:13 AM ET
The NFL has canceled the final Sunday night football game of the season. Don't worry, no one was going to watch anyway.
Next Sunday's game had two disadvantages: The games all had a likelihood of being dull by the time Sunday night rolled around. And this coming Sunday is New Year's Eve, a day when historically few Americans watch television.
The last time the NFL held a Sunday night football game on New Year's Eve was in 2006, when the Chicago Bears hosted the Green Bay Packers. It was expected to be quarterback Brett Favre's last game with the Packers (and widely expected to be his last game ever). Still, only 13.4 million people watched that game, about a quarter fewer than the average Sunday Night Football game that season.
Since the last Sunday night football game also happens to be the final game of the season, the NFL tries to schedule a game that will definitely have playoff implications for one or both of the teams playing. (A team that already made the playoffs might sit their starters, leading to an exceptionally boring game.)
Related: 'Sunday Night Football' takes a big ratings hit
This season, there were no such games that met the NFL's criteria on the final week's schedule. The NFL, which hadn't yet announced which teams would play Sunday night, would have either scheduled a game that had a chance of being a snooze or a game that already had no playoff implications at all.
Instead, there will be seven games scheduled for 1 p.m. and an unusually high nine games scheduled for 4:25 p.m. kickoffs. There won't be an 8:30 p.m. game this year.
"We felt that both from a competitive standpoint and from a fan perspective, the most fair thing to do is to schedule all Week 17 games in either the 1 p.m. or 4:25 p.m. windows," said Howard Katz, the NFL's broadcasting chief, in a prepared statement.
All of Sunday's games will be broadcast on CBS or Fox. NBC won't have a game this coming week, and NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy declined to comment about whether the network would be compensated for the lost broadcast. Unlike other weeks of the season, the NFL has the sole discretion about the scheduling of the final Sunday night game of the year.
2017 has been a tough year for the NFL. The ratings for this NFL's season are down 9% from last year.
More fake news.. ill call BS on a 9% drop. More like %19 or higher
I'll second 6:40's motion on NFL ratings and add another 10%! Have you seen the stands this year during the games? Some only filled to 25% capacity, if that. ALL my friends and customers who have team paraphernalia and team parking signs in their driveways are boycotting television during the games. The "9%" lie might work on some non- fans, but to us who have been fans know what's real.
621 nice job!
Something to ponder as the greed of the NFL owners continues. Most empty seats in stadiums are already purchases/paid for season tickets - so the owners still receive the revenue. It looks bad on TV and the ONLY way it will hit the owners is when those season ticket holders do not purchase tickets again.
It is coming and coming fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6:40 right on CNN and the like continue spreading fake news.
Man that's embarrassing!! When in rge history of the NFL have they ever just canceled a game and not played all regular season games? Talking about wanting to get this season over with and inadvertently admitting defeat. Way to go former NFL fans they thought you would support the nonsense no matter what. The league sucks, the quality of play sucks but most of all the character and maturity of professional athletes is nothing people want to take their familit to watch
932 reading is fundamemtal. No wonder you guys are so easily duped.
Here it is again @10:12 has nothing more to comment about except someone not doing spell check. Is that you Bob pinto??
the nfl is deplorable
Went to 2 games this year. One here and one on the west coast. Both were sold out, but you could take a picture right before or after halftime that makes the stadium look empty.
11:07,
no
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