NFL News and Rumors: Association Modifies Schedules Due To Christmas Celebration
The NFL 17-week schedule is a tedious 256-piece puzzle work that demands meticulous attention to all sorts of details and perfection. Everything has to fit in the right place at the right time- piece by piece or game by game. So, now that Christmas falls on a Sunday this year, NFL will throw a Christmas curveball with a total of 2 games.
According latest roundups, NFL worked around the schedule to make sure it comes out smooth as planned without much trouble. As reported by CBS Sports, the modified schedule will have the Broncos visiting the Chiefs' home for a game on Christmas night at 8:30pm (Eastern Time). The Steelers is bound to host the Ravens four hours earlier (Eastern Time).
The late afternoon game will be televised on NFL channel while the evening game will be broadcasted on NBC. The two games directly competes for sports viewership with NBA which has been hammer locked on Christmas for quite some time as reported by NBC Sports.
The 2016-17 season is the first in 10 years that the league throw off two regular season games on December 25th. Around this time, Santa Claus will probably be watching football games than giving off presents on Christmas day. Nevertheless, there'll still be a handful of games to watch in the holidays. NFL included a total of 12 games on December 24th that includes prime-time schedule between the Bengals and the Texans.
Meanwhile, the NFL slate will open the new season with an interesting kick off: a Super Bowl rematch between defending champion Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers- a surprise early Christmas treat. The teams are locked in a match-up on September 8th with Denver hosting Carolina in nationally televised game on Thursday evening.
"We're glad that it's out," said John Elway, Broncos Executive VP of football operations as quoted by ESPN.
"We knew who we were going to play and now we know when we're going to play them. It's always exciting to take that next step and look at the 2016 season. With the schedule coming out, that's kind of the first step. With the draft coming up in the next couple of weeks, we're on to 2016."
