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The NFL’s new Black Friday game has become a blockbuster, according to league manager Mike North, who said the New York Jets were one of multiple teams that “raised their hands” to host the game. on an annual basis.
North discussed several calendar-related topics during a recent interview on “The Adam Schefter Podcast,” including this year’s Black Friday opener when the Jets host the Miami Dolphins on Amazon.
North told reporters last week that the Cincinnati Bengals had been pushing to hold the Black Friday game as an annual fixture. During his interview with Schefter, he mentioned the Jets as another team interested in hosting the annual holiday game, similar to the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys who traditionally host nationally televised games. at Thanksgiving.
“I hope I’m not speaking out of the blue when I mentioned to people that the Bengals volunteered,” said North, vice president of NFL broadcast planning. “There were others who kind of raised their hands for Black Friday as well.”
The league announced last week that this year’s Black Friday game will be hosted by the Jets, who will play five more prime-time games in 2023 with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback.
“The Jets, once they found out they were the host team, then they started thinking, ‘Hey, is this something we could do permanently as part of the NFL schedule? ?'” North said. “Maybe they didn’t get their hands up in February, but now that they’ve been selected as the Black Friday host, I think that might be of interest to them as well.”
Amazon, which will distribute the game on Prime Video, reached out to the league to bring one of the NFL’s New York teams into the first Black Friday game. Amazon suggested that its positioning as a giant retailer and having a game in the nation’s premier retail marketplace could be a “fun way” to introduce the concept. North said last week that the NFL is also considering a potential game between the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants before settling on the Dolphins-Jets.
North told Schefter the NFL is also considering Black Friday rivalry matchups featuring the Bengals hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Baltimore Ravens. He stressed that he didn’t have the final say on whether the league would set up a permanent host for the Black Friday game, saying that decision would be up to ownership and NFL commissioner Roger. Goodell.
“I don’t think we’re looking for this season to commit to a forever home for Black Friday,” North said. “Let’s play one first and see what we learn and see what makes sense and see if it works for our fans, I don’t think we’re looking at day one to roll this out with a permanent home.
“But it’s definitely something we should talk about. Let’s see what happens this year, let’s see what the fan reaction is on that day, and I’m sure we’ll come back to the property, we’ll come back to the membership and we’ll talk about it if we’re interested Is it a good idea for the NFL I’m sure there are pros and cons for both.
The Jets acquired Rodgers in a blockbuster trade from the Green Bay Packers last month, two weeks before the NFL released its full 2023 schedule. North said Rodgers’ protracted trade talks haven’t had much of impact on the league’s roster plan for the Jets, which he called a “good football team” with “exciting skill position players.”
“I think you would still see a lot of Jets games on national television,” North said. “They were a good football team. … These games had to be used somewhere in the windows of national television.”
