You might be ready for some football, or maybe not. Your lively friends might show up, or they might not.
Either way, there are 13 NFL preseason games today. Thirteen!
This is a lot of games for a single day, especially considering there was only one game on Thursday, none on Friday, and just two on Sunday.
While the NFL would prefer to replace all preseason games with regular-season games (and will eventually do so), having so many games crammed into one day feels like a missed opportunity. A prime-time game on Friday night would have been a good idea.
At least there’s a game on Fox on Sunday at 8:00 p.m. ET (Saints-49ers). However, the only other game that day also starts at 8:00 p.m. ET (Packers-Broncos, on NFL Network).
Today, the games start at noon ET and continue for 10 hours. The schedule is as follows: Falcons vs. Ravens at 12:00 p.m. ET, Bengals vs. Bears at 1:00 p.m. ET, Giants vs. Texans at 1:00 p.m. ET, Lions vs. Chiefs at 4:00 p.m. ET, Vikings vs. Browns at 4:25 p.m. ET, six games at 7:00 p.m. ET (Jets vs. Panthers, Cardinals vs. Colts, Commanders vs. Dolphins, Bills vs. Steelers, Rams vs. Chargers, which starts at 7:05 p.m. ET), and Cowboys vs. Raiders at 10:00 p.m. ET.
Spreading the games out more might have attracted more viewers and increased ratings and revenue.
Next weekend will be better with two games on Thursday, three on Friday, eight on Saturday, and three on Sunday. Then, the preseason will end with the final games leading up to Ravens vs. Chiefs on September 5, Packers vs. Eagles on September 6, and the first full Sunday of the 2024 regular season on September 8.
