Football vs. Fútbol: Will NFL Bend Schedule for FIFA World Cup?

There's a bit of a scheduling conflict coming this fall.

Jeremy Brener | Mar 24, 2022

There may not be any football games this March. Instead, fútbol is taking center stage.

Thursday night, the United States will look to inch closer to qualifying for its first FIFA World Cup since 2014 in a match against archrival Mexico.

USATSI_17607892 — Harrison Barden/USA Today Sports

U.S. Men's National Team

USATSI_17591202 — Dan Hamilton/USA Today Sports

U.S. Men's National Team

USATSI_17590957 — Dan Hamilton/USA Today Sports

U.S. Men's National Team

The goal for the U.S. is to not only qualify for the World Cup in Qatar, but make it all the way to the Final, scheduled for Dec. 18 which ... happens to fall on a Sunday during the NFL season.

This is the first time any such schedule conflict has come up because the FIFA World Cup is traditionally a summer event. However, the host nation Qatar, located near the equator, is too hot to host a summer tournament and FIFA agreed to shift to the winter months.

The NFL and FIFA are two massive fish in the sports pond. But will the NFL move its schedule for the biggest day in soccer?

We likely won't know the answer until the NFL schedule is released next month, but there is a decent chance at least some games are moved to the day before on Saturday, December 17.

With the FIFA World Cup Final expected to air on FOX around 11:00 a.m. EST, there's likely no scenario where the network is able to broadcast any games that day, at least in the early window. Chances are, the NFL will reserve two or three games to be played on the Sunday in primetime and move the rest of the games to Thursday, Saturday or Monday.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell

Sean McVay

The following week, the NFL might also have to alter its traditional schedule given the fact that Christmas falls on Sunday. The NBA's biggest regular-season TV day of the year is traditional its slew of games on Christmas.

The last time Christmas fell on a Sunday was in 2016. That year the NFL only scheduled two games on Sunday, and pushed the rest of the non-primetime games on Christmas Eve Saturday.

In the last two seasons, the NFL has been extremely flexible in moving games due to coronavirus outbreaks, even scheduling some games on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to ensure games will be played. Now, the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell has months to figure out how to work around this once-in-a-lifetime scheduling conflict.

Published Mar 24, 2022

JEREMY BRENER

Jeremy Brener is an editor, writer and social media manager for several Fan Nation websites. His work has also been featured in 247 Sports and SB Nation as a writer and podcaster. Brener has been with Fan Nation since 2021. Brener grew up in Houston, going to Astros, Rockets and Texans games as a kid. He moved to Orlando in 2016 to go to college and pursue a degree. He hosts "The Dream Take" podcast covering the Rockets, which has produced over 350 episodes since March 2020. Brener graduated in May 2020 from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism minoring in Sport Business Management. While at UCF, Brener worked for the school's newspaper NSM.today and "Hitting the Field," a student-run sports talk show and network. He was the executive producer for "Hitting the Field" from 2019-20. During his professional career, Brener has covered a number of major sporting events including the Pro Bowl, March Madness and several NBA and NFL games. As a fan, Brener has been to the 2005 World Series, 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 NCAA National Championship between the Villanova Wildcats and North Carolina Tar Heels. Now, Brener still resides in the Central Florida area and enjoys writing, watching TV, hanging out with friends and going to the gym. Brener can be followed on Twitter @JeremyBrener. For more inquiries, please email jeremybrenerchs@gmail.com.