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Report: NFL schedule could be released Tuesday or Wednesday

By CM Towle

Nov 16, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; A general view of footballs with a salute to service logo prior to the game between the St. Louis Rams and the Denver Broncos at the Edward Jones Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 16, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; A general view of footballs with a salute to service logo prior to the game between the St. Louis Rams and the Denver Broncos at the Edward Jones Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports /
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The schedule for the 2015 NFL season reportedly should be released Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

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The new season’s NFL schedule is often a moving target and it’s no different this year with original reports saying it would be released next Thursday, but now the day is reportedly either Tuesday or Wednesday, as detailed by Pro Football Talk. Various sources have apparently told PFT that the schedule has been ready all this time, but the league wanted to send it around to the more influential team owners for what they called “beta testing” before releasing it officially.

That sounds dubious at first glance, but it’s not clear whether there any owners that have any influence over actually changing the schedule. Especially since certain adjustments would require a lot more shuffling than simply swapping a few games here and there. What is more likely is that Roger Goodell is just extending a branch to make the owners feel like they have some say in what is ultimately their sport. Nothing wrong with having a few new looks at the 256 game schedule.

NFL Network is usually a primary voice in when the schedule gets released, because obviously they will be covering it extensively. Currently the reports are that the network prefers Wednesday as the release date.

The release of the new schedule is actually a big deal, as trivial as it might seem on the surface. However, compared to sports like the MLB or NBA, there’s only 16 NFL games and every game ultimately counts. Teams want to know if they’re facing the dregs of last year to start the new season or a murderer’s row of the top seeds. They want to know when they face their division opponents and when the bye is.

For fans, it’s all about the prime time games, the non-Sunday games and whether they’ll be making travel plans. Attending Monday or Thursday games isn’t always easy for home fans, with transportation and maybe even lodging to take into account. People start making their plans as early as they can.

The other great thing about the schedule release for fans is to start going through it and making win/loss predictions for their teams. Even if it ends up being completely wrong due to the over/under of the team in question and the team they’re facing. What looks good before the start of the season can look completely different once it’s in full swing.

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