Thursday Night Football

Thursday Night Football is the brand name used by NFL Network for its schedule of live regular season telecasts of National Football League games on Thursday nights.

The eight-game package debuted on November 23, 2006, with the Kansas City Chiefs handing the visiting Denver Broncos a 19–10 Thanksgiving defeat. Most games kick off at 8:20 p.m. Eastern Time (ET). Five games aired on Thursday nights, the other three on Saturday nights. Each game would be called either Thursday Night Football or Saturday Night Football, depending on the night on which it appears; the package as a whole was known as the Run to the Playoffs. This format carried over to the 2007 season. However, starting in 2008, NFL Network eliminated all but one of the Saturday night games as well as starting their Thursday night package three weeks earlier. This was to accommodate the earlier schedule and the league's antitrust exemption, which prohibits Saturday games during college football season. In the 2009 season, all references to Saturday Night Football were dropped and any games not played on Thursday were referred to as Thursday Night Football Special Editions. (The network has aired only one game thus far on a night other than Thursday or Saturday, a 2009 contest between the San Diego Chargers and Tennessee Titans played on Friday, December 25 to avoid conflicting with Christmas Eve observances the previous evening.)

As of December 23, 2011, the Thursday Night Football franchise had aired a total of 61 games.

The game package is highly controversial mainly due to the relative unavailability of NFL Network compared to other cable stations such as ESPN or over-the-air affiliates. In most markets NFL Network is only available through premium tier packages, with war of words frequently being exchanged between the NFL and cable companies to get the channel moved to basic cable. Time Warner Cable, the second largest cable-company in the U.S., did not carry the channel at all until the 2012 season, when an agreement was finally reached to carry NFL Network for the first time. Due to anti-trust regulations the NFL is contractually obligated to offer the broadcast to a local over-the-air station. Therefore the away team and (assuming a sellout) the home team markets will see the game regardless of cable availability of the channel. This stipulation also applies to ESPN broadcasts of Monday Night Football. The Thursday Night Football package expanded to 13 games beginning in the 2012 season and will continue airing on NFL Network.

Background
The NFL Network's coverage was not the first time games were covered on Thursday or Saturday. Prior to the new contract, ESPN carried a handful of sporadic Thursday night games (usually those displaced from Sunday night) and the broadcast networks used to air several national games on Saturday afternoons (a practice which has since been discontinued). Incidentally, the only reason the league is even allowed to televise football games on Saturday night stems from a legal loophole: the league's antitrust exemption, the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, was written when the NFL regular season ended in mid-December, and as such, it contains specific language that prohibits televising NFL games in most markets on Friday nights and all day on Saturdays between the second week of September and the second week of December, to protect high school and college football. Since most high school and college seasons have ended by mid-December, other than bowl games, there has been little desire to close this loophole, even though the regular season has expanded well beyond mid-December since the law's passage.

In 2005, when the NFL negotiated a new set of television contracts, Comcast-owned OLN (now NBC Sports Network ) offered to pay $450 million for an eight-year contract to carry NFL games in prime time. In exchange, Comcast planned to add NFL Network to its digital cable lineup. The channel was added, but NFLN decided to air the games itself, foregoing a rights fee. The other TV deals generated $3.735 billion per year over an eight-year period for CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN, and DirecTV.

TNT and ESPN were also reportedly interested in these games before they were awarded to NFL Network.

The Thanksgiving matchup was moved from NFL Network to NBC's broadcast package as part of the new broadcast contract after the 2011 season. During Super Bowl week in 2012, it was announced that the Thursday Night Football package would expand from 8 to 13 games and air on NFL Network, again soliciting and rejecting offers from Turner Sports and Comcast.

Game announcers
Bryant Gumbel served as play-by-play announcer from 2006 through 2007, resigning in early 2008. He was replaced by Bob Papa. Cris Collinsworth was the color commentator until taking over for John Madden as lead analyst on NBC Sunday Night Football in 2009; Matt Millen succeeded him that year, with Joe Theismann joining as a second analyst in 2010. Brad Nessler (play-by-play) and Mike Mayock (analyst) will call Thursday night games beginning in 2011. There was no sideline reporter until 2009 when Scott Hanson assumed that role, however, Adam Schefter and Marshall Faulk of NFL Total Access contributed from the field at various times. Dick Vermeil served as color commentator for Saturday games in 2006.

Pregame, halftime and postgame coverage
Each game telecast is preceded by NFL Total Access on Location. Rich Eisen, Steve Mariucci, Deion Sanders, and Faulk report live from the site of each game. In 2008, they were joined by Warren Sapp. Schefter contributes insider information, and Kara Henderson and Michelle Beisner also contribute. The show generally begins three hours before game time (5 p.m. ET). The same Total Access team hosts the halftime and postgame shows.

In 2009, NFL Total Access on Location was replaced by Thursday Night Kickoff. The sponsors for Thursday Night Kickoff as of the 2010 NFL season are: Sears (pregame), Lexus (pre-kick) and Sprint Nextel (halftime).

Blackouts
Games are shown in approximately 45 million cable and satellite households, and on broadcast stations in the media markets of the participating teams. The home-team broadcast is technically subject to the NFL's blackout rule. However, since the games in the package generally feature top-flight teams which sell out their home games, it is unlikely that games will be blacked out. These games can also be seen in Canada on Sportsnet (except for Buffalo Bills games, which are instead seen on Citytv) and in the United Kingdom on Sky Sports.

Preseason games
NFL Network also presented two preseason games before the 2006 season, using the staff that now works on this package. Spero Dedes was the play-by-play announcer, Sterling Sharpe was the analyst, and Kara Henderson was the sideline reporter.

Radio coverage
Westwood One provides national radio broadcasts for the games, with Ian Eagle calling play-by-play, Randy Cross handling color analysis, and Hub Arkush on the sidelines for Thursday Night Football.

Current

 * Pre-game show


 * Studio
 * Rich Eisen: Pre-game host (2006–present)
 * Deion Sanders: Pre-game analyst (2006–present)
 * Steve Mariucci: Pre-game analyst (2006–present)
 * Marshall Faulk: Pre-game analyst (2006–present)
 * Michael Irvin: Pre-game analyst (2011–present)


 * Game coverage


 * Brad Nessler: Play-by-play (2011–present)
 * Alex Flanagan: Sideline reporter (2010–present)
 * Mike Mayock: Color analyst (2011–present)

Former

 * Fran Charles: Pre-game host (2010)
 * Cris Collinsworth: Thursday color analyst (2006–2008)
 * Jay Glazer: Pre-game analyst (2010–2011)
 * Bryant Gumbel: Play-by-play (2006–2007)
 * Tom Hammond: Substitute play-by-play (2007)
 * Scott Hanson: Sideline reporter (2009)
 * Kara Henderson: Pre-game host (2011)
 * Harry Kalas: Sponsorship announcer (2006–2008) (Deceased)
 * Matt Millen: Color analyst (2009–2010)
 * Jim Mora: Pre-game analyst (2010)
 * Bob Papa: Play-by-play (2008–2010)
 * Warren Sapp: Pre-game analyst (2008)
 * Adam Schefter: Sideline reporter (2006–2008)
 * Sterling Sharpe: Pre-game analyst (2010–2011)
 * Pat Summerall: Sponsorship announcer (2009)
 * Joe Theismann: Color analyst (2010)
 * Kurt Warner: Pre-game analyst (2010–2011)
 * Dick Vermeil: Saturday color analyst (2006)

Current

 * Ian Eagle: Play-by-play (Thursday night, 2008–present)
 * Trent Green: Color analyst (Thursday night, 2010–present)

Former

 * Bonnie Bernstein: Sideline reporter (2006–2007)
 * Dick Enberg: Play-by-play (Thursday night, 2006–2007)
 * Dennis Green: Color analyst (Thursday night, 2007–2008)
 * John Dockery: Color analyst (Saturday night, 2007)
 * Randy Cross: Color analyst (Thursday night, 2009)
 * Don Criqui: Play-by-play (Saturday night, 2007)
 * Joel Meyers: Play-by-play (Saturday night, 2006)
 * Kevin Kiley: Color analyst (Saturday night, 2006)
 * Sam Wyche: Color analyst (Thursday night, 2006)

Thursday Night Football all-time team standings
This list shows the National Football League teams' all-time standings in the games they played on Thursday Night Football.

Standings are current as of December 23, 2012.

Digital on-screen graphics
When the games started showing on NFL Network in 2006, a red score banner that spanned the top of the TV screen was used. The team logos were in oval shapes, like most NFL Network programs used since the start of the 2006 NFL season, and with their respective scores next to the ovals. During the Texas Bowl, and the Insight Bowl, the score banner was gold, instead of red.

In 2007, the on-screen graphics went to a complete overhaul. The scoreboard is located at the middle of the top of the screen. The team logos in ovals were kept; with the visiting team's logo and their respective score or on the left side, and the home team's logo and score are on the opposite side. In the middle, there is a red background, with the game clock in white, yellow bars to indicate quarter, and the NFL Network logo at the bottom. When a touchdown is scored, the scoring teams side opens, and a light goes through, revealing "TOUCHDOWN" in white in the team's color background. The side closes, and what appears to be a black graphic "wipes" away the score, thus changing it. Like in 2006, the scoreboard got a change in color, during bowl coverage, except that the red area was light orange.

In 2008, the on-screen graphics had minor changes, including listing the quarter underneath the game clock instead of using the yellow bars from 2007.

On Thanksgiving in 2009, NFL Network introduced timeout indicators above the team logos and their respective scores.

In 2010, the on-screen graphics underwent a complete overhaul, including the scoreboard being moved to the bottom of the screen and timeout indicators below the team abbreviations and logos.

Controversies
The move to air games on the NFL Network has been criticized for various reasons

Scheduling
Moving Thursday and Saturday night games to NFL Network has caused problems in the scheduling of other night games. In the past, Thursday and Saturday were used as overflow nights in the event that playing a Sunday night or Monday night game was not possible or desirable (for instance, during the World Series, the final week of the season, or Christmas Eve) so that the respective broadcaster could be compensated. The new television contract with NFL Network eliminated that leeway, which has especially impacted Monday night. In 2007, not only did ESPN have to air a doubleheader on Week 1 to compensate for the lack of a game in Week 17, but the league also had to play a game on Christmas Eve, a day when the league has historically avoided playing in prime time. The game was played between two West Coast teams, so the kickoff was at 5:00 p.m. local time.

This problem was rectified in the 2011 television contract extension, which eliminated Saturday night games from NFL Network and allowed ESPN the right to move select Monday Night games to Saturday. In 2012, Christmas Eve falls on a Monday. Rather than having a game on Monday night, ESPN will instead broadcast a Saturday Night game on December 22 between the Atlanta Falcons and the Detroit Lions.

Carriage
Upon the original launch of the Thursday and Saturday night games, few television service providers have carried the NFL Network due to disputes over carriage contracts for the network. These disputes were magnified throughout the 2007 season, as two high profile matchups were to be broadcast by the network. The match up between the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers, both 10-1 at the time, drew large attention to the issue; the fact that such a high profile matchup would be unavailable to a majority of the country was seen as unacceptable to fans. This controversy was surpassed when NBC and CBS both bought the broadcast rights from the NFL Network to air the New England Patriots' season finale against the New York Giants, as they were 15–0 and vying to be the first team to finish the regular season with a perfect 16–0 record; the controversy was centered around the networks' actions denying exclusive over-the-air rights to local stations WWOR-TV and WCVB, who were the Giants' and Patriots' local broadcast homes for games on cable (the game aired on these stations, as well as on WCBS, WNBC, WBZ, and WHDH in the teams' market areas). The game was the first ever three-network simulcast in NFL history, and first simulcast since NBC and CBS both aired Super Bowl I in 1967.