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Sorry Haters, the NFL Schedule Release Is a Great Event
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- Sorry Haters, the NFL Schedule Release Is a Great Event
I don't know when it became the cool, edgy thing to complain about the annual NFL schedule release event, but every year, I see a handful of folks in the sports media world brooding on social media about it, and this year appears to be no exception.
Yes, we already know which teams are playing against one another, home and away.
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But the unveiling of the league's regular-season slate has become akin to mock drafts in the way it elicits criticism from people who seem to misunderstand its actual purpose and value. For mock drafts, it's not about actually predicting each of the 32 first-round picks correctly, but rather presenting as many different scenarios as possible, and educating fans about team needs and top prospects.
The schedule release, much like the NFL Draft, is an event in which every fan gets to participate. The Super Bowl is great, but only two teams get to play. These offseason events that include every team gives every football fan the chance to be invested in the source material.
For fans who travel to games, it's the moment where they find out when to book their road trip, or let their families know when they're gonna be coming back home to go see their childhood team play after moving away for work. It's finding out when your home team is going to be playing a road game close enough for you to drive from your new city.
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It's a fresh opportunity to talk trash to your rival fans, to commiserate over opening on the road in back-to-back weeks, revel in the epic prime-time matchups featuring marquee players and compelling storylines, and groan at the fact that we'll still have to watch the New York Giants on national television way too many times.
Hell, it's been worth it just for the incredible ways in which each NFL team's creative/digital content departments have turned their individual schedule reveals into a cinematic event worthy of its own awards show.
And most importantly, it's fun.
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We are talking about a game, if you remember. And it's OK to do things just because they're fun, especially when it's all just a game of sportsball.
Does it feel like the whole thing might be a bit overblown for something that could absolutely just be a simple press release?
Perhaps.
But the reason the NFL doesn't truly have an offseason is because the fans can never get enough of the game, in whatever form, and this is an event that recognizes the impact the actual order of the schedule has on the fan experience, and presents the information accordingly.
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So, yell at the clouds and remove the bystanders from your lawns, if you must. The rest of us will still have a blast following every leaked matchup, filling in handwritten grids, and getting hyped for another year of our favorite game.
There are plenty of things the NFL does that are worthy of criticism. Turning the schedule release into an offseason celebration isn't one of them.
