Peter King: TNF “Needs To Be Eliminated”

Most would agree this hasn’t been a banner year for the NFL, both on the field and off. Whether it be disgruntled advertisers, inconsistent television ratings or players protesting over the National Anthem there always seems to be issue making national headlines.

One of the more talked about issues also involves Thursday Night Football as the Arizona Cardinals prepare for their NFC West Showdown against the Seattle Seahawks at University of Phoenix Stadium.

The overall feedback hasn’t been positive.

“For the long-term good of the game I think it needs to be eliminated,” SI.com Senior NFL Writer Peter King said to Sports360AZ.com’s Brad Cesmat. “I think there are a lot of players who would like to see it eliminated.”

King believes one potential change to TNF could be to add another bye week to the season with one of those bye weeks leading into the Thursday night game. 

“I think there’s a lot of sentiment to that, to adding a second bye,” King explained. “As I’ve said on many different occasions, I understand why many people don’t like the Thursday night game. A lot of players don’t like it.”

King also points out deep-pockets advertisers, like Amazon which spends $50 million annually to stream the Thursday night broadcasts, would pull those advertising dollars back in the game was eliminated on a permanent basis. The trickle down effect from all this would be a smaller salary cap, hence less money for teams to play with.