WHAT NFL EXECUTIVES LOOK FOR
The team president, general manager and coaches will pay close attention to the spacing of home and away games. They prefer not to have three in a row on the road. The bye week is also of great interest, with the preference for it being around Week 8 or 9 at the midpoint of the regular season.
Thursday night, Monday night, Thanksgiving Day and late-season Saturday games require changing the normal schedule teams have for a Sunday afternoon game. Those non-Sunday games solicit a mixed reaction from team execs. They enjoy seeing their team in the spotlight during prime-time games that most players and the fan base love, but they understand the disruption those games cause compared with the regular weekly schedule.
Team execs, coaches and the team operations staff members will quickly check the 2024 schedule for potential hot- or cold-weather games. Those are an extra challenge in terms of travel concerns and planning for things such as cooling or heating equipment in the bench area at outdoor stadiums.
I was the Minnesota Vikings' director of team operations early in my career, so I know very well that immediately upon the schedule coming out, the team operations staff will begin to set up travel plans. Those include negotiating with airlines and hotels on the road, as well as with the in-town team hotel for the night before home games.
That group also sets up team buses and equipment trucks for road games and obtains extra security and police escorts. In some cases, teams will make arrangements to practice in the road city on the day before a game, so the team operations staff will coordinate that, too.
Much more from former GM Jamie Diamond
https://www.the33rdteam.com/how-team-executives-approach-nfl-schedule-release/
The team president, general manager and coaches will pay close attention to the spacing of home and away games. They prefer not to have three in a row on the road. The bye week is also of great interest, with the preference for it being around Week 8 or 9 at the midpoint of the regular season.
Thursday night, Monday night, Thanksgiving Day and late-season Saturday games require changing the normal schedule teams have for a Sunday afternoon game. Those non-Sunday games solicit a mixed reaction from team execs. They enjoy seeing their team in the spotlight during prime-time games that most players and the fan base love, but they understand the disruption those games cause compared with the regular weekly schedule.
Team execs, coaches and the team operations staff members will quickly check the 2024 schedule for potential hot- or cold-weather games. Those are an extra challenge in terms of travel concerns and planning for things such as cooling or heating equipment in the bench area at outdoor stadiums.
I was the Minnesota Vikings' director of team operations early in my career, so I know very well that immediately upon the schedule coming out, the team operations staff will begin to set up travel plans. Those include negotiating with airlines and hotels on the road, as well as with the in-town team hotel for the night before home games.
That group also sets up team buses and equipment trucks for road games and obtains extra security and police escorts. In some cases, teams will make arrangements to practice in the road city on the day before a game, so the team operations staff will coordinate that, too.
Much more from former GM Jamie Diamond
https://www.the33rdteam.com/how-team-executives-approach-nfl-schedule-release/