The NFL is making a case for less being more when it comes to Sunday afternoons. As the league heads into the 2026 season, the number of games airing in the classic Sunday window has dipped to 197, down from 198 in 2025 and a far cry from the 211 games back in 2021. That trend has some fans griping, but the league's scheduling brain trust says it's all part of a bigger plan.
Max St. John, the NFL's manager of broadcast planning and scheduling analytics, addressed the shift on the Sports Media Watch Podcast this week. He acknowledged the concern but framed it as a strategic move. “Definitely a concern, it’s something we are always trying to be cognizant of,” St. John said. “You kind of get to some of those middle weeks where we’re playing an international game, and you have four to six teams on bye, yes, you do sometimes end up with a few less games than we’ve historically seen on Sunday afternoon, but that’s where you need to be strategic and deploy a Baltimore-Buffalo game at one o’clock.”
The league's logic? Fewer games doesn't mean less excitement. In fact, the NFL argues it can deliver blockbuster matchups that capture the entire country's attention. “Maybe we have less games at one o’clock that week, but we have a really, really big game that we can point the entire country to,” St. John continued. “So, really trying to be strategic about that.”
This philosophy comes as the league spreads its inventory across a growing list of broadcast partners and streaming platforms. The 2026 schedule already includes a Wednesday night game in Week 1, a Thursday night opener, and multiple weekday games during Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks. It's a far cry from the days when Sunday afternoons were sacrosanct, but the NFL insists it's responding to how fans consume football today.
Not everyone is buying it. Critics argue that diluting the Sunday window chips away at a cherished tradition. Jason Kelce has sounded the alarm, warning that the league risks alienating its core audience by de-emphasizing the very day that built its brand. Meanwhile, Chris Simms got roasted for suggesting fewer Sunday games might actually be a good thing—a hot take that now looks prescient given the league's own stance.
St. John's comments suggest the NFL is leaning into the quality-over-quantity argument. By concentrating top-tier matchups in the Sunday window, the league hopes to create can't-miss events that drive ratings and engagement. It's a gamble, but one that could pay off if fans embrace the idea of a curated schedule over a cluttered one.
For now, the numbers tell the story: 197 Sunday afternoon games in 2026, with more weekday and primetime slots filling the gaps. Whether that trend continues remains to be seen, but the NFL is clearly betting that a leaner, meaner Sunday slate is the way forward.
