Is the NFL pushing itself too hard with too many games?
The league is moving up the regular season opener to a Wednesday night. We rarely, if ever, had Wednesday games in the past. But that could be changing in 2026 and beyond.
The NFL is reportedly considering adding a Wednesday night game to the schedule for Thanksgiving week. When Christmas falls on a Wednesday or Thursday, we'll get games during the middle of the week, too.
At what point is this all too much?
BEREA, OHIO - AUGUST 18: Linebacker Mack Wilson #51 of the Cleveland Browns is taken off the field after sustaining an injury during an NFL training camp at the Browns training facility on August 18, 2020 in Berea, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
One longtime NFL team doctor is warning teams about the dangers of too many schedule changes.
"When I started in the NFL, it was the most popular sport," said former San Diego Chargers team doctor David Chao, who worked 17 seasons for the team, to Outkick. "By the time I was done, it was more popular than all the other sports combined.
"And what's the fundamental difference? You go to a sports bar during baseball season. It's all men watching games. You go to a sports bar on Sunday during football season, it's half women watching games. They've doubled their audience. And they added fantasy. But what is fantasy? It's personal ownership and stake. It's personal stake in the games."
The dangers of too many schedule changes
The NFL is already a dangerous and violent sport. If you're going to add too many schedule changes, it could become even more dangerous.
"The NFL's been doing this creep for a while," Chao said. "They do the Thursday season kickoff game and then more Thursdays during the season. They snuck in a Friday on everybody. They snuck in games on Christmas. Obviously, when the college football season is over, they play on a Saturday.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they went to Friday-Saturday-Sunday after the high school and college football season. And it's all about revenue."
It's dangerous.
"The Wednesday game? They're going to sell it based on safety," Chao said. "They'll say, ‘You don't like Thursday games? … We'll slide in Wednesday and you don't have to play on four days rest. You'll have (10-11) days before and (11) days after' – a mini-bye on the front end and a mini-bye on the back end.
"And they'll sell that as helping players' health and safety."
NFL players are already not happy with the move to a 17-game schedule. Moving around more games and potentially adding an 18th game, while pushing some games to Tuesday or Wednesday nights, is just a bad idea.
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