After a season of unusually low ratings, the NFL did not make any particularly dramatic changes to its schedule.
The NFL announced its 2017 regular season schedule on Wednesday, with the Patriots hosting the Chiefs in the September 7 season opener on NBC. The league decided to hold the Falcons-Patriots Super Bowl rematch until October 22 (also on NBC), apparently not wanting to subject Atlanta to the experience Carolina had against Denver in last year’s opener.
The Falcons will instead open against the Bears in the first game of the Week 1 doubleheader on FOX.
Sunday Night Football will open with Giants-Cowboys, Monday Night Football with Saints-Vikings and Chargers-Broncos, and Thursday Night Football with Texans-Bengals. The TNF opener will air on NFL Network alone, with the first over-the-air simulcast coming in Week 4, when the Packers host the Bears on NFL Network, CBS and Amazon.
The season includes 11 TNF simulcasts, up from 10 last year, with the extra game a Week 16 Christmas matinee between the Steelers and Texans on NFLN, NBC and Amazon. With the Christmas holiday falling on a Monday for the first time since 2006, ESPN will get the Christmas night game between the Raiders and Eagles. Similarly, Christmas Eve falling on a Sunday will mean a rare Saturday night edition of Sunday Night Football — Vikings-Packers on NBC December 23.
If the NFL is doing Adam Silver no favors with its Christmas Day schedule, it will give Rob Manfred an enormous gift with its October 30 slate. FOX will get Washington-Dallas to lead into Game 5 of the World Series, while NBC’s Sunday Night Football is currently set to offer only Steelers-Lions as competition.
Other notable items: The schedule includes another round of three early morning London games, Ravens-Jaguars in Week 3, Saints-Dolphins in Week 4, and Vikings-Browns in Week 8. The Rams’ London game will take place at the more conventional time of 1 PM ET, avoiding the 6:30 AM wake-up call for L.A. fans last year. … ESPN will again be limited to one game each involving the Cowboys and Patriots. … An AFC team will get back onto the Thanksgiving schedule, with the Chargers facing Dallas on CBS. … Finally, the Patriots-Raiders Mexico City game will air on CBS as part of its Week 11 national window.
(Schedule info from NFL.com 4.20)
