The NFL has long reigned as the undisputed king of American sports, but could the league be pushing its ambition too far? During a recent episode of PFT Live, Mike Florio stirred the pot with a theory that has fans buzzing: the NFL might be quietly laying the groundwork for Tuesday and Wednesday night primetime games.
Florio pointed to the 2024 schedule, where several teams are stacked with three consecutive primetime appearances. Take the Chicago Bears, for example—they just wrapped up a Thursday night clash and are set to be featured on ESPN and NBC in the following weeks. While this could simply be a scheduling quirk, Florio believes it's no accident.
“I wonder if they are experimenting with having the same team in prime time for multiple weeks for if and when they ever fully embrace Tuesday and Wednesday night,” Florio said. “Because if you do that, the only way to make the schedule work is to have a team play Thursday one week, Wednesday the next week, Tuesday the next week. To give them maximum time between games, you’re going to have to do this surgery to the schedule that has the same teams popping up again once you have teams playing in the middle of the week.”
The theory has sparked a firestorm of reactions online, with many fans pushing back against the idea of expanding the NFL's footprint beyond its traditional slots. One fan called it “an incredible conspiracy theory,” while another echoed the sentiment, saying, “He’s 100% right. The NFL won’t stop until the product is completely diluted.”
Others are more hopeful, with one commenter noting, “I hope this is wrong man. We don’t need that many nights of football. The Thursday, Sunday, Monday schedule is perfect. Late season, add Saturdays, sure. We start staking Wednesdays in there and people are just not going to watch. It can’t take over THAT many nights of the week.”
Even those who typically dismiss Florio's theories are paying attention this time. “Florio has a lot of out there theories, however, this is one feels very spot on,” one fan wrote. “Shield trying to pull the wool over our eyes!”
At the end of the day, the NFL is a business, and money talks. If adding Tuesday or Wednesday games means fatter TV deals, the league will find a way to make it happen. The recent flex scheduling headache already shows how the league is stretching its scheduling flexibility to the limit.
But fans aren't the only ones wary of change. Broadcast partners and players alike have expressed concerns about the physical toll of midweek games. Yet, as the NFL continues to dominate ratings, the allure of more primetime slots is hard to ignore. Whether this is a true experiment or just a coincidence, one thing is certain: the NFL is always thinking ahead, and Tuesday night football might not be as far-fetched as it sounds.
