When Did The Nfl Change From 12 Games To 16 To 16 Games

Creating the NFL Schedule

It takes thousands of computers and half dozen NFL executives to create the NFL's 272-game masterpiece.

Each bound, six NFL executives have on an enormous task: creating the NFL schedule for the adjacent flavor.

The NFL schedule makers — Senior Vice President of Broadcasting Howard Katz, Senior Director of Broadcasting Blake Jones, Director of Broadcasting Charlotte Carey, Vice President of Broadcasting Michael Northward, Vice President of Broadcasting Onnie Bose, and Broadcasting Manager Nick Cooney — must consider the fans, the league's broadcast partners and many other factors when building the 272-game schedule that spans the 18 weeks of the NFL season and showcases the league's best matchups and talent.

The schedule makers volition have to work around events that are already scheduled to take place in or near NFL stadiums — events that may compete with the games, put undue stress on the playing surface, or create traffic or logistical nightmares. The league begins collecting data from the clubs in January about whatsoever events that may create scheduling conflicts.

The schedulers are also constrained by internal factors. A formula determines each team's opponents every year, and a rotating schedule ensures that every team plays each of the other 31 at least in one case in a four-year period.

It takes thousands of cloud-based computers to produce thousands of possible schedules — a procedure that sets the stage for the schedule makers to brainstorm the arduous task of picking the best possible one.

THE Beefcake OF THE NFL SCHEDULE

The NFL's scheduling formula ensuresthat all teams volition play every team from every division in the other conference once every iv years.

The league's 32 teams are split into two conferences — the American Football game Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The xvi teams in each briefing are split into the E, Due north, Due south and West divisions; every division has four teams.

Every team volition play 17 regular-season games with i cheerio week. Teams will alternate seasons where they host nine regular-flavor games and 1 preseason game, or eight regular-flavour games and two preseason games. The NFC will accept ix regular season home games in the 2022 flavour.

Hither'due south a breakdown of how each team'due south opponents are set:

• Six games confronting divisional opponents — ii games per team, one at home and one on the road.
• 4 games against teams from a partition within its conference — two games at abode and two on the road.
• Four games confronting teams from a partition in the other conference— two games at domicile and two on the road.
• Two games confronting teams from the ii remaining divisions in its own briefing — 1 game at home and one on the road. Matchups are based on sectionalisation ranking from the previous flavour.
• The new 17th game is an additional game against a non-conference opponent from a segmentation that the squad is not scheduled to play. Matchups are based on segmentation ranking from the previous flavour.

Once every team's opponents are fix, the schedule makers brainstorm the procedure of determining when every game will exist played.

GAME TIMES AND Circulate PARTNERS

The league'south vi circulate partners (CBS, Fob, NBC, NFL Network, ESPN and Prime Video) all want each calendar week's all-time matchups to air on their networks so they tin concenter the largest audiences.

The NFL'south marquee matchups often are scheduled to air during the week's premier fourth dimension slots — Thursday, Sunday or Mon nights or the late game on Sunday afternoons. The league typically schedules the Super Bowl champion at domicile for the Thursday night game that kicks off the new flavour.

The league will too schedule games on the Saturdays of Weeks 15 and 18. In Calendar week 15, three of the five designated matchups will be played on Sabbatum with the remainder beingness played on Sunday. Specific dates and kickoff times for the designated Week 15 matchups will exist determined and announced later during the season.

In Week 18, ii games will exist played on Saturday with the remainder being played on Sunday. Specific dates, start times, and networks for Week 18 matchups will exist determined and announced following the determination of Week 17.

Additionally, the regular Sunday afternoon slate of Week xvi games will exist played on Saturday due to Christmas falling on a Lord's day. Christmas Eve will as well feature an NFL Network primetime game, followed past a tripleheader on Christmas Twenty-four hours.

About NFL games are played on Sun afternoons, with early games starting at 1:00 p.chiliad. ET and the belatedly games starting at either 4:05 p.m. ET or four:25 p.m. ET, depending on whether the game is role of a network doubleheader.

The Sun afternoon games are broadcast on Fox (NFC) and CBS (AFC); most games with AFC road teams are shown on CBS, and well-nigh of those with NFC route teams are circulate on Flim-flam.

The season volition open and shut with doubleheaders on both CBS and FOX and every marketplace will see four Sunday afternoon games in Weeks i and 18. Over Weeks 2–17, Fox and CBS will each have eight doubleheaders. In those weeks, one network will show games in both Sunday afternoon fourth dimension slots, while the other will air only one game in either of the two time slots. Doubleheader weeks generally alternate between networks, simply not always. It is possible for one network to have doubleheaders on consecutive weeks, but not three weeks in a row.

For the starting time fourth dimension since 1994, the NFL volition add together a new live game broadcast partner. Prime Video volition become the new exclusive Thursday dark partner, marking the first time an NFL broadcast partner has been a digital provider.

INTERNATIONAL Serial

The Oakland Raiders hosted the New England Patriots at Azteca Stadium in United mexican states City in 2017.(AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

In 2007, the NFL added a new twist to the scheduling procedure: the NFL International Serial.

Beginning in 2022, each squad is guaranteed to play internationally at least in one case every eight years. In addition to current existing games in Mexico and the U.k., the league volition play a game in Germany. Clubs can still volunteer to play habitation games abroad if they choose, just every bit they have been able to in previous seasons.

Scheduling these matchups presents a challenge for the schedule makers, which is why setting the International Series games is a particular focus early in the process.

Schedule makers and so look at a three-week window effectually the international games to attempt to find ways to make long travel less of a brunt on the teams. This includes where a team plays in the calendar week prior to an international game and whether or not they accept a cheerio calendar week following the game.

The 2022 season will feature three games played in London, one in Munich, and ane in Mexico City.

FLEX SCHEDULING

In 2006, the NFL introduced a "flexible scheduling" procedure for NBC'south "Sunday Night Football." Flex scheduling ensures that the Sunday dark game will feature a quality primetime matchup.

(AP/Lynne Sladky)

During the 2022 flavour, flexible scheduling for Lord's day night may be used twice betwixt Weeks 5–10, Weeks eleven–15 and Week 17. In flex scheduling weeks, the games listed for the Sunday night window are tentative and subject to modify. But Dominicus afternoon games are eligible to movement to Sunday night, in which the tentatively scheduled Sunday nighttime game would move to a Sun afternoon.

Sunday afternoon games may also exist moved between the 1 p.k. ET, iv:05 p.g. ET, or 4:25 p.yard. ET time slots.

In 2014, the league introduced "cross-flexing," which allows a select number of games annually that would have typically aired on Fox or CBS to be aired on the other Sunday afternoon network. That means, for instance, that an all-AFC matchup could air on Fox and an all-NFC game could appear on CBS. An equal number of games must be cross-flexed: if CBS airs iii games originally slated for Fox, and then Fox would have to go three games that would have originally aired on CBS.

In 2014, the league introduced "cross-flexing," which allows a select number of games annually that would accept typically aired on Fox or CBS to be aired on the other Sunday afternoon network. That means, for instance, that an all-AFC matchup could air on Fox and an all-NFC game could announced on CBS. An equal number of games must exist cross-flexed: if CBS arrogance iii games originally slated for Play a joke on, then Fox would have to get iii games that would accept originally aired on CBS.

GREATER Access IN COMING SEASONS

Beginning this season, fans volition have unprecedented access to more than games each week, which will affect the scheduling process.

• Monday Night Football game games discipline to flexible scheduling outset in Week 14 during the 2023 flavor.
• One additional Monday Night Football doubleheaders (with additional Monday Dark doubleheaders starting in 2023).
• Sabbatum doubleheaders in the final week of the season featuring matchups with playoff implications.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD SCHEDULE?

Each team has one bye week between Weeks 6 and 14. Determining where that farewell week falls for each team presents additional challenges for the schedule makers.

For instance, the league tries to limit the number of times a team that played the week before has to face up a team coming off its bye.

The schedule makers as well consider where a squad's bye calendar week fell in past seasons. A team with an early on bye week i twelvemonth will receive consideration for a afterwards good day week the side by side season.

Even after all the factors accept been weighed and the schedule is produced, the league occasionally has to make adjustments on curt discover.

A rare November blizzard in Buffalo in 2014 prompted the league to move the Bills' Week 12 dwelling game confronting the New York Jets — originally a Dominicus game in Orchard Park — to Monday of the same calendar week in Detroit's Ford Field.

In 2017, Hurricane Irma caused the league to postpone the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Week ane game in Miami against the Dolphins in the involvement of public safety. While not ideal, the teams both had a Calendar week eleven bye, and so the game was played that week and they had an unexpected Week 1 good day.

The league tries to limit the number of consecutive road games any squad plays to two games, with emphasis at the beginning and end of the season. Sometimes, however, the schedule makers cannot avoid placing a team on the road for three direct weeks.

Schedule makers likewise work to avert putting teams in a position where they cantankerous the land too oft over a short menstruation of time or suffer inordinate travel that may put the players at a competitive disadvantage compared with the guild they are playing.

The league tries to avoid scheduling teams that play on the road on Mon nights with an away game the following week to avoid having 2 road games separated by a short calendar week.

The process is challenging, and there may be no such matter equally a perfect schedule, only the schedule makers consistently provide the NFL'south fans and circulate partners with a compelling and entertaining slate of games week after calendar week.

Source: https://operations.nfl.com/gameday/nfl-schedule/creating-the-nfl-schedule/

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