NFL admits mistake over controversial scheduling decision and confirms it’s now ‘thing of the past’

The NFL has scrapped the controversial Monday Night Football doubleheaders.

Often accused of stubbornness in its relentless pursuit of more games and extra international offerings, the league proved it does listen to fans sometimes.

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NFL V.P. of broadcast planning Mike North appeared on The Schrager Hour podcast and confirmed MNF was reverting to one game.

“Yes, the Monday night doubleheaders are a thing of the past,” he said. “I don’t know why that didn’t work.

“Quite honestly, I thought it was fine. I thought it was good for us. That Monday night game, if it wasn’t your game on Monday, it would’ve been Sunday at [1:00 p.m. ET], among eight, nine, or 10 other games.

“You probably weren’t going to watch it anyway. Having it on Monday, a national broadcast . . . it just didn’t work. The fans didn’t appreciate it, and it probably wasn’t a good use of an NFL asset.”

The reasoning is there, but scheduling two games on a weeknight had major drawbacks.

Back-to-back contests meant the second game often finished after 1.00 AM ET and fans weren’t enjoying overlapping broadcasts.

It is likely that Tuesday or Wednesday could receive a standalone slot, with the latter already landing the season-opener between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, as well as a historic Thanksgiving Eve matchup in 2026.

NFL fans rage against Thanksgiving schedule

Some claimed the league is ‘killing the golden goose’ by booking so many games across Thanksgiving week.

“The NFL’s greed knows no boundaries,” one fan declared. “You’re going to have the NFL on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday… They’re killing the golden goose.”

“An NFL game on a WEDNESDAY? (Roger) Goodell pretty much said f*** player safety,” another added.

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‘Traveling circus’ slammed by J.J. Watt

A record nine games will be played on foreign soil in 2026.

That mark will be broken next year as the NFL forges ahead with its global push despite opposition from J.J. Watt, who questioned the “traveling circus”.

Amid the social media storm that is the annual schedule release, NFL Executive VP Hans Schroeder said that the international games were a major focus.

“We know all 272 matchups, we know what the next year’s going to look like with every team, who everybody’s playing,” Schroeder said. “A key area is the league’s continued global expansion, and our most ever, nine games played outside the United States.”

North revealed that the league used to allow teams to block four or five home games a season from leaving the States. Owners may not have any say at all soon.

“There’s a lot of conversations about eliminating the protections in their entirety,” North said, via Jori Epstein.

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The Collective Bargaining Agreement has a limit of ten international fixtures, but there is a provision for teams with unavailable home stadiums.

Shad Khan’s Jacksonville Jaguars will play at Camping World Stadium in Orlando next season and will allocate one home game to London’s Wembley Stadium.

It may be a case of one step forward, two steps back for U.S. fans but supporters around the world are delighted.

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