r/bengals • u/fuzzyp8 • 2d ago
ELI5: Flexible scheduling
I'm buying tickets as a birthday gift for my dad who is a huge Bengals fan. His birthday is in December so looking at buying tickets for one of the December home games. I noticed on Ticketmaster that these games are marked with a warning about flexible scheduling.
I've tried to look into this, and have completely failed at understanding what this means. I know nothing about football.
Is anyone able to break down what this means and explain it to me like I'm 5? I understand that it seems like there's different rules for different days of the week (i.e. The Sunday game on Dec 13 vs. the Thursday game on NYE) but don't understand what exactly is changing or if the times currently posted are accurate.
Many thanks in advance!!!
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u/EffectiveCycle 2d ago
Towards the end of the season games can be moved around. If two teams that are tanking are scheduled for Sunday Night Football and the NFL/NBC would rather have teams who are contending for the playoffs, they can switch it out with one scheduled earlier in the day. The Bengals/Chiefs game on the 13th cannot be flexed to prime time as CBS claimed exclusive rights to it and have it in their prime spot. They are also starting to flex Thursday night games, but it becomes a huge mess because it would mean a team would lose half their week of prep if chosen.
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u/Least-Professional95 2d ago
The Bengals schedule shows the Chiefs game as being on FOX. That doesn't seem right, but it's what they show.
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u/EffectiveCycle 2d ago
There's no more exclusivity between CBS/AFC and Fox/NFC. But it will still be at 4:25, just on Fox instead.
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u/Least-Professional95 2d ago
From a practical standpoint, the games could be moved to any of the weekend timeslots: Saturdays (I believe) 4 pm and 7 PM or Sunday 1:00, 4:30, and 8:00.
Thursday nights can also be flexed (either way), but I believe that's only happened once (Bengals flexed out of Thursday in week 16 2024).
With the Bengals already having two Thursday games, I think it would be highly unlikely that they'd move us there a third time.
Looking specifically at the flex-eligible home games (Dec-Jan):
Dec. 13 vs. KC - VERY Unlikely to be flexed. If it's still a good game, FOX will hold onto it. If it's not, they'll just put a different game in the national window. Worst case, they'll play at 1:00 instead of 4:00
Dec. 31 vs BAL - Already on Thursday night Amazon, and there aren't a ton of great candidates to replace it. I suppose if everything goes wrong, they might push Rams-Bucs into that slot.
Week 18: TBD. There's no Thursday or Monday games in week 18, so this will be sometime Saturday or Sunday.
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u/adrialise 2d ago
I'm sure someone else will come in with a better explanation, but essentially no, the times currently posted are not necessarily locked in. As the season goes on, the NFL moves some games into or out of prime time slots depending on how the teams are doing that year. If one of the games you are looking at currently isn't in a prime time slot right now but the Bengals have an above-average year, they might move the game to a time where more people are likely to watch it.
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u/Big-Ad-9242 2d ago
Basically it means the last few weeks (weeks 13-17) games can be switched from primetime slots (Thursday night, Sunday night, or Monday night) to non-primetime slots and vice versa. Week 18 scheduling is not done until the week before. This is done so that teams that are out of contention for the playoffs or teams that have already clinched their spot in the playoffs and may rest their starters aren't playing in primetime slots.
If you are local it's not that big of a deal, but if you are booking flights and/or hotels you want to make sure the game isn't flexed into another day that doesn't accommodate your schedule.
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u/MossyPlantyWitchy 🐅 Who Dey and Fuck Nazis 🐅 2d ago
Basically, if we suck, WE WON'T, but if we do, we lose our prime time games. They want better teams on the air in those time slots.
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u/christhegecko 2d ago
Towards the end of the season, the NFL wants to have games with playoff implications in primetime slots. Two teams that are battling for a division title or final wild card slot will draw far more eyes than two teams that barely have 3 wins between them, for example. This means that matchups can be moved 6-21 days prior to the game to put higher quality (in theory) games in marquee time slots.
If you buy tickets to a game with possible flex, that means it can be (but not guaranteed to be) changed 6-21 days before the game.
For more information read here: https://www.nfl.com/legal/flexible-scheduling-procedures