Between the start of the season and the Christmas/Pro Bowl Skills Competition break, every team gets a bye every two weeks, with one string of three straight games thrown in. This allows for a number of algorithms when it comes to scheduling, and the upshot for fans is that our brain cells can stop dancing around like Boggle at 1 p.m. ET because there will no longer be 47 games being played simultaneously. The new schedule allows for just enough. Take Sept. 27, for example. Ten teams might be on their first bye, leaving 11 games for the week, and just eight in the Sunday afternoon slots. The revenue increases for more televised weeks that would get the NFL to its desired $25 billion in revenue mark in an instant. And the new CBA would dictate a decent chunk of that money to trickle into the paychecks of the players. Financially, it’s a win-win. -
Melissa Jacobs
