SI

Dispelling Arguments Against the NFL Playing a Game on Thanksgiving Eve

There aren’t many valid reasons the league shouldn’t create the new broadcast window.
Jimmy Traina|
Three games on Thanksgiving isn’t enough for the NFL, which will reportedly add a game to Thanksgiving Eve.
Three games on Thanksgiving isn’t enough for the NFL, which will reportedly add a game to Thanksgiving Eve. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

1. Adam Schefter reported on Wednesday that the NFL is considering adding a game on Thanksgiving Eve as early as this season.

If Schefter is reporting that this is under consideration, then it’s a guarantee that it will happen.

I saw a mix of thumbs up and thumbs down about the NFL having a game on that Wednesday night. I’m 100% thumbs up on it. I think that is a perfect night for an NFL game.

Most of the arguments I’ve seen for a thumbs down, though, don’t make a ton of sense.

If you don’t like the idea of a game on Thanksgiving Eve because you’re usually spending that time with family (sorry about that) or traveling or you’re just unable to dedicate three hours of time the night before the holiday to watch a football game, I totally get that and it’s a valid excuse.

However, if your argument is about the NFL is diluting its product or hurting scarcity by going overboard by adding new broadcast window, that’s just doesn’t make much sense.

Take this post for example, which has gotten a ton of traction.

Playing a game on Thanksgiving Eve has zero impact on scarcity. The same number of games are played every year in the NFL (until they go to an 18-game schedule, but that’s another story). The NFL isn’t adding a game to its schedule. It’s just moving a game that would’ve been played Sunday afternoon to Wednesday night. All the league is doing is creating a new stand-alone window.

We don’t love football because it’s played once or twice a week. We love football because each team only plays 17 games and almost every game of the regular-season is meaningful.

The advantage the NFL has over the NBA, NHL and MLB is that teams in those sports play eight billion regular-season games. In the NFL, it’s 17. That’s it.

Those sports play 10 to 15 games several days a week. The NFL has one day a week with multiple games. It will never be like those other sports.

The NFL also will never become like those sports because while it’s very easy for fans to blow off regular-season games in the other three major sports, it’s not easy to do so when it comes to the NFL.

If you want to make a valid argument against the NFL playing a game on Thanksgiving Eve, there is one. By creating all these stand-alone windows, the league continues to lessen the value of Sunday Ticket, which costs fans an arm and a leg. But the league has made it crystal clear that it doesn’t care about Sunday Ticket and it will create as many standalone windows as it possibly can to sell to streamers.

The argument that the NFL has created too many stand-alone windows doesn’t really hold up, either. We now live in a time with Thursday night games, 9:30 a.m games, Black Friday games, Christmas Day games, Friday night of Week 1 games and on and on and on. And guess what? In 2025, the NFL had its most watched regular season since 1989.

Clearly, all the stand-alone windows haven’t hurt the league.

2. A brand-new SI Media With Jimmy Traina dropped this morning. This week’s show features a conversation with Sports Business Journal reporter Richard Deitsch about all the latest sports media news.

Among the topics discussed: NBC naming Jason Benetti as its play-by-play voice for Sunday Night Baseball while passing on hiring a full-time lead analyst in order to use local broadcasters each week; CBS’s decision to use Nate Burleson as a studio host for the NCAA tournament; why Pat McAfee’s value to ESPN continues to increase; what Fox will do for a No. 2 college football play-by-play caller with Benetti gone; Charles Barkley and Dick Vitale calling a First Four game together; the WBC and much more.

Following Deitsch, Sal Licata from SNY TV and The Sal Licata Show, joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we talk about the NFL free agency, the NBA’s decision to cancel “Magic City Night” in Atlanta, the WBC, the Oscars and the absurd price of concert tickets.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

3. I have no idea why Netflix thinks people who want to watch the Yankees play the Giants on Opening Night need all these people as part of the telecast. But just remember: When Bert Kreischer takes his shirt off, it’s just so WACKY!

4. There isn’t anyone nicer in sports media than Mike Breen, so I hate to disagree with him, but his take on Bam Adebayo’s ridiculous 83-point game made me shake my head.

While I don’t disagree with Breen that everyone wants to be outraged about everything these days, he sort of pokes a hole in his whole argument by saying Adebayo’s record was a mockery.

That’s the whole point of the criticism. Why celebrate something that was a mockery? Adebayo didn’t score 83 points in a natural and legitimate way. It’s more than fair for people to point that out despite Adebayo being a good guy.

5. If you’re someone who likes to wager, I can’t recommend this story enough.

6. Sometimes I just like to present a post without any commentary. This is one of those times.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: It was 20 years ago today that Uncle Junior shot Tony.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.

Published | Modified
Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

Home/Media