For decades there was what many believed to be an unspoken rule in football circles across America. Friday nights were reserved for high school games, Saturdays for college contests, and Sundays for church and professional football matchups. However, it was, in fact, not an unspoken rule but an official, legally backed decision to protect the high school and college games. But NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has recently found a way around it.
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The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961’s main intention was to ensure that the collective bargaining in which Congress allowed NFL teams to participate would not affect viewership for high school and college football. They did this by including a “dark period,” which prevented pro football games from being played on Friday and Saturday in the fall when the high school and college seasons were going on.
The NFL is hosting a Black Friday game today.
Amazon pays $100 million for exclusive broadcasting rights — but given the money at stake, many have wondered why the NFL didn’t try this before.
Here’s the real reason
There is something called the Sports Broadcasting Act of… pic.twitter.com/awd2jSKquL
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) November 29, 2024
However, the Act used very specific language when outlining this “dark period,” which has allowed Goodell and the company to find loopholes. The Act specifically states that the NFL can’t hold games from 6pm on Fridays until midnight on Saturdays from the second week of September until the second week of December.
That’s why Goodell and the NFL scheduled their Brazil game on the first Friday of September during opening week, one week prior to the “dark period” taking effect. This year’s Black Friday matchup featuring the Las Vegas Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs was similarly cleverly scheduled. Kickoff is at 3pm, prior to the “dark period” taking effect at 6pm.
How many NFL games have taken place on Friday?
The Chiefs-Raiders Black Friday game will be just the 14th NFL game played on a Friday. The league had one on opening week in 1970, one each year from 1983-1986, and one in 2005 when a game was rescheduled due to Hurricane Katrina. There was also last year’s Black Friday showdown, as well as the Week 1 Friday game in Brazil this year. The other five were all held on a holiday such as Christmas or New Year’s.
The NFL will also now be competing with the NCAA, which has been holding Black Friday games for some time. This year, they scheduled four contests on the day after Thanksgiving.
Goodell and the league are shooting for a stated goal of $25 billion in revenue by 2027. Scheduling more holidays and international games has become one of the best ways for them to do that. And at the rate Goodell’s going, we might have NFL games every day of the week in the near future. But for now, Goodell is happy to push the envelope only as far as Black Friday.
Goodell and the league have also increased their revenue in recent years through the sale of individual games to streaming services. Amazon Prime paid $100 million for the Chiefs-Raiders game today. Earlier this year, it was reported that Netflix paid $75 million apiece for the two NFL games scheduled on Christmas this season as well.
The NFL’s international itinerary has grown immensely over the last few years as well. The UK and Toronto used to be the only destinations outside the U.S. for games until 2016. In recent years they’ve added Mexico, Germany, and Brazil, with more expected in the coming years.
