NFL to hold off on announcing Sunday night games on NBC

0 Comments | Philadelphia Daily News, April, 2006

The NFL has its plan for eliminating those not-ready-for-prime-time matchups that too often sneaked onto national television.

The league plans to hold off scheduling Sunday night games in 7 of the final 8 weeks - just as playoff races start heating up - to ensure the best games are played on NBC. The league has long wanted some kind of flexible scheduling, but could never implement one until now.

For Weeks 10-15 and Week 17, the final regular-season weekend, all Sunday games will be listed with start times of 1 p.m. or 4:05-4:15 p.m. EST.

The league must then announce which match will be played Sunday night at least 12 days before the date of the game.

The lone exception is the season finale on Dec. 31, when the switch must be made no later than 6...