Giants Country

John Mara Rips Proposal to Flex Sunday Games into Thursday Night

The Giants co-owner also expressed concern about adding a second Thursday night game to teams' schedules.

Patricia Traina

John Mara Rips Proposal to Flex Sunday Games into Thursday Night
John Mara Rips Proposal to Flex Sunday Games into Thursday Night /
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The NFL's continued quest to ensure the games featured on a national stage are of interest to the audience was rejected Tuesday when the owners voted down a proposal that would have allowed late-season games to be flexed from Sunday to Thursday night.

Despite the setback for the league, the idea could be revised again later this year, and Giants co-owner John Mara isn't thrilled with the idea.

“I am adamantly opposed to that,” Mara told reporters in between league meetings Tuesday. “Flexible scheduling as it is is inconsiderate to our season ticket holders who fill our stadiums every week. People have gotten used to going from Sunday afternoon to Sunday night. That doesn’t mean that they like it. To flex a game back to Thursday night is, to me, abusive, and I am adamantly opposed to it.”

The league did allow for the flexing of a Sunday game into Monday night, another concept Mara doesn't particularly care for.

"I think it is really inconsiderate to our ticket holders," he said.

Regardless of Mara's feelings, the league wants to appease its broadcasting partners. The way to do that is to deliver the top games of the week whenever possible, including eventually moving Sunday games to Thursday.

“At some point, can we please give some consideration to the people who are coming to the games?” Mara said. “I understand the ratings at the end of the year on Amazon were down a little bit. We probably had some bad matchups – let’s pick better matchups.”

Meanwhile, the owners did approve a proposal allowing teams to play two Thursday night games instead of one, another item that MAra isn't thrilled with.

“I know the injury data has shown that playing one Thursday night game doesn’t increase the chances of injury. But now, if you’re going to get a second one, and it’s going to be late in the season when players’ bodies are a little more beaten up than they were maybe earlier in the season, I think we need to look at that. I think it should have been vetted with the health and safety committee, it should have been vetted with the competition committee, and it wasn’t.”

Mara knows the disdain many players and coaches have about playing on Thursday night.

“Players don’t like playing on Thursday nights,” he said. “We get that. We’ve been doing it once a year. I think adding the second one is not going to be very popular.

“If they had done a poll of the 32 coaches, I think it would’ve been overwhelmingly against that, and the general managers as well. They don’t get to cast those results.”

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Patricia Traina
PATRICIA TRAINA

Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 30+ seasons, and her work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The Athletic, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and the Sports Illustrated media group. As a credentialed New York Giants press corps member, Patricia has also covered five Super Bowls (three featuring the Giants), the annual NFL draft, and the NFL Scouting Combine. She is the author of The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. In addition to her work with New York Giants On SI, Patricia hosts the Locked On Giants podcast. Patricia is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and the Football Writers Association of America.

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