NFL Black Friday Game: More than one team volunteered to play in it annually; why 2023 features Jets-Dolphins

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By Webdesk



The upcoming NFL season will be the first Black Friday game in the history of the competition. The day-after Thanksgiving game is between AFC East rivals the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins, but it was another team that asked to play in the historic game.

According to Mike North, the NFL’s vice president of broadcast scheduling, the Cincinnati Bengals volunteered to play on Black Friday every year and hoped to make it an NFL tradition, much like the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions always have at home. play on Thanksgiving. .

“The Cincinnati Bengals raised their hands, they raised their hands and said we’re interested in Black Friday, not just 2023, but how about a tradition. We play in Dallas and Detroit every year on Thanksgiving, how about you like playing in Cincinnati every year on Black Friday?” North said, via Mad Dog Sports Radio.

The NFL did consider a game between the Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers, which would have been an AFC North showdown, but ultimately went in a different direction based on the teams’ location. Since New York is the number 1 retail market in the country, Amazon noted that it would make sense to have a game involving one of the New York teams on a day that’s all about shopping.

After the Jets were picked for the Black Friday game, they also started thinking about making it a new New York tradition.

“When the Jets found out they were the host team, they started thinking, ‘Hey, can we make this a permanent part of the NFL schedule?'” North said via ESPN. “Maybe they didn’t raise their hands in February, but now that they’ve been selected as a Black Friday host, I think they might be interested in it, too.”

As it stands, the league isn’t asking for one team to marry the Black Friday game, but things could change after the game plays this year.

“I don’t think we were looking for a permanent home for Black Friday this season,” said North. “Let’s play one first and let’s see what we learn and let’s see what makes sense and let’s see if it works for our fans. I don’t think on day one we were looking to deploy this with a permanent home.”

“But it’s definitely something we need to talk about,” North continued. “Let’s see what happens this year, let’s see what the fan response is on that day, and I’m sure we’ll take ownership again, we’ll go back to membership and we’ll talk about whether we’d be interested in it “Is that a good idea for the NFL? I’m sure there are pros and cons to both.”

This offseason, the Jets signed future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers, elevating them to a team everyone will be intrigued by. As a result of Rodgers’ addition, the number of primetime games for New York was scheduled increased to five in 2023The league is well aware that Rodgers’ presence will increase viewership of Jets games, so it made sense to let them go on vacation.

North said that with Rodgers becoming the Jets’ quarterback, it felt like the right opportunity to spotlight the team. It was also a way to preserve the division matches from the day before. Thanksgiving includes three league games: Packers at Lions, Commanders at Cowboys, and 49ers at Seahawks.

“A divisional rival Miami Dolphins on Black Friday is sort of the highlight of Thanksgiving Day,” said North. “We’ve got three division games on Thursday… and keep it up with Jets-Dolphins on Black Friday.”

North said they had been watching the Giants when they discussed the game being in New York. They felt they could “make something special out of this” if they had a team from New York and even discussed bringing talent into New York City’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday.

North also joked that he had his own idea for the day, but it ended up not being the preferred choice.

North said they were looking at a Raiders game and explained his plan: “At least I thought it would be funny, Black Friday in the Black Hole. The marketing team disagreed with me, but that’s okay.”

“We had a lot of options, we really did,” North explained, but in the end the appeal of a game in New York with Rodgers had the most appeal.





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