NFL’S BIG NON-EVENT

So hungry is the public for NFL news that it gladly settles for a close second – non-news. And so, at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, the NFL will announce a big pile of stuff that, in fact, we mostly know.

There will be huge fanfare, analysis, cautious examination of all the data, as the league rolls out the schedule for the 2015-16 regular season.

And why is this not news? Because, except for the actual order in which games will be played, every team’s opponents have been known since the last season ended.

The NFL relies on a simple formula for assembling the schedule – teams play each team in their division twice (six games), each team in another division in their conference (on a four-year rotating basis, four games), each team in a non-conference division (four-year rotating basis, four games), and two games within the conference based on the previous year’s finish.

So what’s the news? This evening’s presentation on the NFL Network reveals in what order these games will be played.

“Woo-hoo. The NFL is going to tell us stuff we pretty much know, and will take its time in doing so. With much bloviation.”

Actually there’s a bit more. We’ll find out which are primetime games (Sunday night, Monday night, Thursday night). Perhaps, given that number, we should say we’ll find out which are not primetime games. We’ll learn who will play the defending champion New England Patriots in the opener (but not how much air will be in the footballs). We’ll know when each team has its bye.

Dates and times, that’s the bulk of the news. And even the late-season times are subject to ‘flexing’ for TV purposes if the matchup no longer seems attractive. Flexing allows for a better game to be moved into the Sunday night slot and a lesser feature dropped back into the daytime slot. And the league often moves 1 p.m. ET games to the 4 o’clock hour for national distribution.

Woo-hoo. The NFL is going to tell us stuff we pretty much know, and will take its time in doing so. With much bloviation.

Tune in and be fascinated. Or you could just read the schedules.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .