Calling for the abolishment of Thursday Night Football

Hey everybody! I know I haven't posted for awhile, I've been really busy with school these past few weeks. I recently finished a research paper for my English 100 class here at WKU and I'd really like to share it. Enjoy!

Any Given Sunday…….and Thursday:

Calling for the abolishment of TNF games

           The National Football League (NFL) has been implementing primetime slots for marquee matchups since the creation of Monday Night Football (MNF) in 1970 and Sunday Night Football (SNF) in 1987. These programs drew high ratings for the NFL week in and week out. These games were also practical times for the players. The players had as much time to rest after a hard-fought football game if they were playing on SNF or MNF and got to play under the bright lights, so it was a win-win for everyone. Ten years ago, the NFL changed this formula by implementing Thursday Night Football (TNF) games which were only held some weeks at first. Today, however, TNF is a weekly event and is dreaded by the players we love to watch as fans so much. TNF should be abolished from the NFL for the betterment of player safety and this can be achieved by the fans refusing to watch football on Thursday nights or else the NFL may suffer dire consequences.

            It’s no secret that a great deal of NFL players dread participating in TNF. The players are the reason why so many fans love to watch football, but should our enjoyment come at the cost of their health? We already get to watch our favorite teams every Sunday and occasionally Monday so is an extra game on Thursdays at the expense of player’s health worth it?

            Preparing for a standard NFL game on Sunday is a tough task as is for players; preparing for TNF puts even more strain on players bodies since they have less time to heal from the game they just played as well as less practice time. The NFL isn’t doing anything to stop TNF despite its players’ grievances. Seattle Seahawks player, Richard Sherman, says “I’d like to put Roger Goodell (the commissioner of the NFL) in pads for a late game on a Sunday — then see what time he gets to the office on Monday morning”. The star cornerback is known as one of the hardest working players in the NFL and his article, “Why I Hate Thursday Night Football”, exemplifies the core issues players have with TNF. Sherman continued with “I just don’t understand why the NFL says it’s taking a stand on player safety, then increases the risks its players face by making them play on Thursday, before their bodies are ready” (Sherman). Having a mere three days of rest before playing football on Thursday night is ridiculous in the eyes of players but apparently not the NFL.

Richard Sherman isn’t the only star player to publicly express his contempt for TNF. Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, took a shot at TNF prior to his TNF matchup against the Tennessee Titans as did Richard Sherman’s teammate and wide receiver, Doug Baldwin. Even the legendary former coach and commentator, John Madden, publicly attacked TNF saying, “it just doesn’t work.” These are just a few star names who openly dislike TNF to a strong degree furthering the point that fans should help players in their mission to abolish TNF by refusing to give the NFL’s men in suits what they want and tuning in.

The NFL wants its fans to continue watching TNF every week at the cost of players’ health. The best way for the fans to support the players’ health is to boycott the broadcast of TNF games. The players are the reasons we love to watch football, not Roger Goodell. Meanwhile, Goodell is discussing his own contract extension while Richard Sherman recently tore his Achilles while playing, you guessed it, during TNF and is out for the season.

Injuries have been piling up across the NFL, especially concussions. TNF games certainly don’t help the rate of injuries decline. Concussions are the most common injury in the NFL today and the effects of player concussions continue into retirement.  Many retired players had their brains donated to research institutes for analysis after their death. Researchers have been finding “evidence of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative condition associated with repeated impacts to the head” from these deceased NFL players (Polnerow). While there is no clear-cut solution to the concussion problem in football, TNF does not support a solution to the issue. TNF only increased the rate of injuries in the NFL. If players received the proper amount of time for rest each week after a bruising game on Sunday (or Monday) then the CTE rate could see a decline. Overall, TNF games only increase the chances of a player, whether he be 22 or 38 years old, taking a critical hit to the head or suffering a career ending injury. 

The NFL has a history of ignoring the head trauma issues with its players. For years, the NFL denied any linkage between concussions and brain disease, “in many ways mimicking the tobacco industry’s denial of any links between smoking cigarettes and lung disease and cancer” (Cummings). In 2012, Hall of Fame linebacker, Junior Seau, tragically committed suicide due to brain disease from too many hits to the head during his career. The disturbing increase in long-term health effects and suicides from former players has brought the concussion issue to much debate regarding the NFL. However, it is possible for players to “suffer debilitating neurological damage without ever sustaining a concussion” (Murray). TNF is not the sole factor in player safety and the concussion issue but it certainly isn’t helping the matter; it’s only making the health risk worse. Concussions are not the only health threat, ACL and Achilles tears to name a few, for players and TNF’s existence is only going to increase the chances of players getting hurt.

The future of the NFL is at significant risk due to the piling number of injuries across the league. Every day, more and more parents are not allowing their child to play football because they don’t want them to have a concussion or torn ACL like the NFL players on TV. TNF is contributing to the end of the NFL as we know it. Player health is the ultimate factor in deciding the NFL’s future, but TNF is a major roadblock. Recent studies have confirmed the reports on increased levels of injury in the NFL. Following the 2015 season, 182 concussions were reported which was a 58% increase from the previous year. However, concussions are not the only injury for players to be concerned about as the overall impact of hits across the league are increasing each year (Taschner). TNF was implemented in 2006 and since then, injuries in the NFL have increased annually. While TNF is not the only factor in the increase of injury risks, it’s abolishment would assist in preventing possible injuries and making those parents a little more comfortable in letting the next Richard Sherman or Ben Roethlisberger play the great game of football. You, the fans, can help make this possible and protect the future of the game we love by boycotting TNF games.

The absurdity of TNF games is no secret, yet the NFL continues to ignore the clear threat to the health of the players and the league’s future. Roger Goodell and the NFL have demonstrated their incompetence time after time when it comes to dealing with TNF. Despite the NFL recently conveying emphasis on player safety, the multi-billion-dollar corporation continues to put “tired, banged-up players on the field for these Thursday contests after only three days of rest” (Gilleran). The NFL, with its billions of dollars should also probably hire physicians to assist players with CTE or other health issues from the field of play (Cummings). To add insult to injury, the NFL is considering expanding its primetime and TNF offerings, thus putting even more players at risk. “Can Wednesday night football be far away” (Gilleran)? As long as TNF keeps rolling in the dough, the NFL will continue to keep it around. They’ve already made a deal with NBC and CBS this season, splitting the coverage of TNF games to each popular network; the NFL is clearly valuing money over the safety of its players in insisting that TNF is a vital aspect of the league. Is this a program that the fans really want to support? Those players get in pads every week and play an amazing game for us; it’s time we gave something back by refusing to tune into TNF contests for the sake of the players. If we don’t, then we are no better than the greedy men in suits forcing TNF to exist.

Minus the fact that these TNF games increase the risk of player injuries, TNF contests are usually one-sided blowout games and who wants to watch a boring game? In the 2014 season, the mean margin of victory in Thursday Night Games during the first five weeks was 29.00 points compared to 12.08 points on Sunday Night Football. That’s a four-touchdown differential per TNF game and that margin hasn’t changed much since (Vaughan).

Thursday Night NFL Scores, Weeks 1-5 of the 2014 season (Vaughan)

Week	Visitor and Score	Home Team and Score	Winning Margin
1	Packers-16	Seahawks-36	20
2	Steelers-6	Ravens-26	20
3	Buccaneers-14	Falcons-56	42
4	Giants-45	Redskins-14	31
5	Vikings-10	Packers-42	32

Just look at this current NFL season. The Pittsburgh Steelers recently defeated the Tennessee Titans 40-17 and the Baltimore Ravens demolished the Miami Dolphins 40-0. Both blowouts occurred on TNF. The reason these TNF games are garbage most of the time is that players only have a mere three-days of rest prior to game day so of course they won’t be playing their best football; they’re still sore from the hard-fought game they just played three days ago and are still discovering new bruises from Sunday’s game (Sherman). By refusing to watch TNF, the fans will help abolish a program that not only hurts the players but usually delivers a garbage fest of a game. Safe to say, TNF will not be missed by much.

I understand that changing the channel from TNF is easy when your favorite team isn’t playing. We all want to support our teams each week no matter what day they’re playing on. I’m a die-hard Pittsburgh Steelers fan, I have been my entire life. However, that doesn’t mean I have to support a television program despised by many players for the Steelers among many around the league. Each team only plays one Thursday night game (minus opening week) so I’m asking you, fan to fan of this great game, is that one game out of the year worth it? Is it worth the pain and risk of injury that our teams’ players are forced to endure? The abolishment of TNF will lead to a better NFL with safer players who will be grateful for this abolishment. All we can do as fans is refuse to watch TNF games each week even if our favorite team is playing until the NFL comes to its senses and does the right thing. There’s only one Thursday that NFL football needs to be played on, Thanksgiving.

Works Cited

Cummings, André Douglas Pond. “Junior Seau, Head Trauma, and the NFL's Concussion       Problem” University of Mississippi Sports Law Review, April 20, 2013, pp. 45-71.

            http://law.scu.edu/sports-law/the-nfl-on-thursday-nights-money-versus-player-safety/

Google Scholar, Accessed November 17, 2017

Gilleran, Mike. “The NFL on Thursday Nights: Money Versus Player Safety?” Institute of Sports

            Law and Ethics, October 30, 2013 Santa Clara University School of Law,

              http://law.scu.edu/sports-law/the-nfl-on-thursday-nights-money-versus-player-safety/

            Accessed November 7, 2017

Murray, Stephanie A. “The Misnomer of the NFL's "Concussion Crisis": Don't Count on the

NFL to Solve Football's Biggest Problem-and OSHA Regulation May Not.” Washburn

Law Journal, 2017, pp. 181-215. Hein Online, file:///C:/Users/njd12/Downloads/StephanieAMurrayTheMisnom.pdf Accessed November 26, 2017

Polnerow, Dan. “Solving Football’s Concussion Problem” Northeastern's Undergraduate

Writing Program Journal, NU Writing, http://www.northeastern.edu/nuwriting/solving-footballs-%20concussion-problem/ Accessed November 7, 2017

Sherman, Richard. “Why I Hate TNF”. The Players’ Tribune, 2016

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/richard-sherman-seahawks-thursday-night-football/ Accessed November 6, 2017

Taschner, Ty. “How High Injury Rate has Deemed the NFL the No Future League:

Has the rough nature of the NFL has caused an increase in Injury Rate?” udel.edu, October 16, 2016 https://sites.udel.edu/sprtprgrp4/files/2016/10/Article-28gagkz.pdf Accessed November 7, 2017

Vaughan, Timothy S. “Analysis of Thursday Night NFL Winning Margins” Journal of Statistics

             Education, vol. 23, no. 1, 2015, pp. 1-12. Google Scholar,

   https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/cd95/a481f732144c6f3cd4ad7fbbca4f66053c73.pdf

             Accessed November 6, 2017