Thursday Night Football, a staple in the National Football League, recently has been getting a great deal of criticism over these past twelve years. TNF started November 23, 2006 putting the Kansas City Chiefs Vs the Denver Broncos with the Chiefs winning 19-10. Over the years, viewership has decreased because many of due to the games did not interest the viewers. While the NFL has attempted to change that by giving viewers more competitive matches, resulting in viewership slightly increasing.
Players from multiple teams have complained about playing on Thursdays. One of the first complaints with the most traction was Seattle Seahawks Cornerback, Richard Sherman. On December 14, 2016, Sherman wrote a full article on the website called “The Players Tribune” about how playing on Thursday causes more injuries because,“The players don’t have enough time to heal from playing on Sunday and by result of that, the games on Thursday are not good at all.” Another player who spoke out against it recently was New Orleans Saints quarterback, Drew Brees. Brees spoke critically of the issue after some of his teammates were injured in a Thursday night game. He said, as reported by CBS sports, “It’s 100 percent a product of playing on Thursday and do you understand what guys bodies go through in a game? And then to have to turn around four days later and play?”
Garrett Brooks, a senior, said, “I personally like Thursday Night Football because there is more football for me to watch during the week, but I want the players to be safe as well.” When asked if he thinks it causes more injury, “I don’t think so because injuries can happen at anytime so I dont think its fair for them to blame it on a Thursday.”
When looking at both points of view, the NFL wants to continue Thursday Night Football because it brings them more money with running advertisements from sponsors. On the other hand, the players safety is (or should be) the number one priority in the NFL. If multiple players are complaining about it, injuring themselves, then they should look for another way to solve the issue or just take TNF away completely. There is both high risk with a high reward, but will the NFL take that risk? Only time will tell