ORLANDO — The NFL‘s Annual League Meeting is a wrap, closed out on Tuesday by Commissioner Roger Goodell’s annual news conference.
Goodell addressed a multitude of topics on Tuesday, including concerns that the league’s decision to hold two games this year on Christmas Day — which falls on a Wednesday — will elevate the injury risk of the four teams involved.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Goes on the Record About Player Safety
Spurred on by record viewership for this year’s Christmas Day tripleheader, the league plans to schedule a very rare midweek slate of games on Dec. 25, 2024.
The participating teams have not yet been announced. Yet, a full eighth of the NFL will likely learn in the coming weeks that they will have to play three games in 11 days in the final month of a long and physically taxing season.
Here’s how it will work for the teams involved — they will either have a bye or (most likely) play a game on Sunday in Week 14, play a second on Saturday in Week 15, and then a third on Wednesday in Week 16.
Asked to square that truncated timeline with the NFL’s public position that player health and safety is of paramount concern, Goodell responded:
“We’ve done this. In fact, you know, COVID is actually a learning opportunity [for us]. I think it was the first time we played on Wednesday.
“It will not be a regular thing. It will be when Christmas falls on a Wednesday.
“But the time period between games has been done before. We have not seen any elevation of injuries. We have had a major focus on Thursday night when you first put that, and we’ve still not seen any kind of elevation of the figures. I think we’ve got this down.”
Even if the injury rate is the same, the quality of play on short weeks is not. Amazon Prime’s Thursday night offering was borderline unwatchable in 2023. But money almost always wins out, and Christmas has proven to be a cash cow for the NFL in recent years.
The Chiefs-Raiders first leg of the 2023 Christmas Day tripleheader had a reported audience of 29.2 million, the most ever for a Christmas Day regular-season game.
The numbers for the Giants-Eagles middle game were nearly as strong (29 million), while the 49ers-Ravens matchup drew a respectable 27.1 million.
The league plans to eliminate the prime-time Christmas Day game in 2024, but don’t be surprised if it returns in 2025, when Dec. 25 falls on a Thursday.
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