Today’s Eagles at Packers game was moved from a noon central time kickoff to a 3:25 central kickoff. I think it’s safe to assume that when the schedule was released in April some plans were made to make the trip to Green Bay to this game. Not only for Philadelphia fans but far flung Packers fans as well. In fact this is a “Gold Package” game. (Packers used to play half their home games in Milwaukee, and had season ticket holders for both cities. When Milwaukee games where dropped the season ticket holders from there were give the option of keeping tickets for two games a year at Lambeau, the Gold Package).
So do you make your plans in April with the possibility that any game after week 5 (when flexible scheduling starts being an option) could be moved, not only from three possible times on Sunday but even from Sunday to Monday or Thursday or any combination of five, in mind? Or take the chance that what may be a once in a lifetime trip gets trampled under the feet of a dash for the cash? How do you tell your 8 year old that the trip to their first game, that they have been dreaming of for months, is now no longer possible because the travel plans made don’t fit the new game time?
Your facts are wrong. Games can’t be moved from Sunday to Monday or Thursday. The kickoff time can be changed on a Sunday from a noon, to 3 PM, to Sunday night. If I was going up from Chicago to Wisconsin for the game, I’d have booked a hotel room anyway for Sunday night.
I agree, although we have seen a few games moved from Sunday to Monday due to extraordinary circumstances (storms, natural disasters, etc.). When the schedules come out, almost all of the games past a certain point in the season are set for 1:00 PM Eastern (except for Pacific & Mountain zone home games) and there’s the expectation that some of those games are going to get flexed into the later slot for TV. Probably not too shocking that a marquee matchup like Eagles/Packers would get flexed.
Yes, you’re right there are the very rare games that move dates due to fires or the roof caving in or other acts of nature. If you’re a fan of a marquee team such as the Packers, you have to be prepared for the kickoff time to move. If you’re a fan of the Tennessee Titans or Carolina Panthers, not as much.
And if you live out west, pretty much not at all, since a western home game cannot be moved to 1:00 (unless the “home game” is a situation where the team is designated as the home team in a London game).
It used to be that, when the schedule is announced, the schedule for the flex weeks would list every game as starting at 1:00 unless the home team is in the Pacific (Seahawks, 49ers, Raiders, Chargers) or Mountain (Broncos, Cardinals) time zones. This doesn’t appear to be true any more; 12/7 has the Eagles playing a 4:25 home game.
Why don’t the teams put TBA for a start time?
I think that is what College teams do.
The St Louis Rams have always had a lot of 3 pm starts (Central Time). Much more than other Midwest teams in the Central Time Zone
College teams honestly don’t know. Their scheduled game times aren’t set ahead of time, though their opponents and weekends are generally set. They don’t have to be set until 12 days before hand.
NFL teams have a schedule set before the season starts. The game time only changes if a particular game is flexed out (or there’s an act of God), and this is announced at least 12 days in advance (same as college). Further, only so many games can be flexed in a season.
The 1-9 Jaguars, for example, aren’t going to be flexed out of any of their upcoming 1 pm (EST) games to the Sunday night slot and can’t be flexed out of their Thursday night game. Their fans (maybe “fan”) aren’t in for any surprises about when their games start.
That’s because the Rams are still in the NFC West, which means three of their home games are against San Francisco, Arizona, and Seattle. That ensures Fox will have a late-afternoon game with some built in appeal in the west.
Here is the link to the flexible scheduling information. The one NFL game I went to (Bengals vs Jets) was the last game of the regular season and had playoff implications - I think it was the only game on Sunday that did. The original start time was 4:15pm, but we knew of the possibility of flexible scheduling for a month (probably by visiting the website). But we were sent an email 6 days prior, after the week before wrapped up, that our game was moved to the night slot.
It was so freaking cold beer sales weren’t allowed and hot chocolate was lukewarm within seconds. It ended up being a blowout for the Jets (the home team) at 38-0?, so about a third of the stadium was empty by the time the 4th quarter came around. Huge loss of crowd body heat. It was lots of fun, though.
I would presume the Kansas City Chiefs would as well. Since theyre in the NFC/AFC West, three of their away games every season are in the west, and even the in-division home games are likely to have 3:05/3:25 Central starts, to bring in the visiting team’s audience - except probably for the 49ers (or Raiders), since there’s a good chance the Raiders (or 49ers) would have a home game that day.