Giants’ John Mara: Controversial NFL Policy Proposal Is ‘Abusive’

The New York owner trashed the idea of flex scheduling for “Thursday Night Football” games.

A proposal to allow schedule changes to the NFL’s Thursday Night Football slate has been tabled until May, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reported Tuesday. But the idea of “flexing” games to avoid bad matchups on Thursdays remains a hot topic among players, owners and observers.

To wit, Giants co-owner John Mara called the proposal to flex Thursday Night Football games “inconsiderate and abusive.”

“People have gotten used to going from Sunday afternoon to Sunday night; that doesn’t mean that they like it,” Mara said. “This year, we could be flexed to Monday night, which I think is really inconsiderate to our ticket holders. To flex a game back to Thursday night, to me, is just abusive. I am adamantly opposed to it. Fortunately, it didn’t get enough votes today, but it will probably be revisited in May.”

Giants’ John Mara is “adamantly opposed” to TNF flex scheduling proposal pic.twitter.com/JIUoo5kTec

— Charlotte Carroll (@charlottecrrll) March 29, 2023

The proposal, if approved by three-fourths of the league’s owners in May, could lead to teams playing on a short week with as little as 14 days notice. The NFL approved a move Tuesday to allow teams to play on multiple Thursdays in the same season, something that has been a rarity to this point.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell responded to Mara’s criticism later Tuesday.

“Providing the best matchups for our fans is what we do. But we look at all the impacts. It’s a very important thing to balance between the in-stadium fans and those who watch on TV,” Goodell said, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.