Raiders owner addresses flexing Thursday night NFL games

Add Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis to the list of noteworthy members of the NFL community against the idea of the league flexing late-season Thursday night games. 

"Just make the schedule and play it," Davis told Jarrett Bell of USA Today on Monday. 

The proposal being discussed during the owners' meetings this week allows the NFL to move games into and out of "Thursday Night Football" broadcast windows with a minimum of 28 days' notice. Davis told Bell he could "absolutely not" support flexing the midweek games before the owner took a shot at an AFC West rival. 

"If you have a Raiders-(Los Angeles Chargers) game in Las Vegas scheduled for a Thursday," Davis continued, "and all of the fans driving from Los Angeles—the Raiders fans and all three Chargers fans—buy their tickets and book their hotels, how in the hell do you schedule it and now say, 'Sorry, it’s now on Sunday?' How in the hell do you do that?" 

New York Giants co-owner John Mara generated headlines earlier this spring when he called the idea of flexing Thursday night games "abusive" to fans. Despite such opposition, Bell noted that "Davis seemed resigned to the possibility" that the proposal will pass this week. Bell added that Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones are among those seemingly in favor of the additional flexible scheduling beyond "Sunday Night Football" contests. 

Amazon is reportedly paying an average of $1.2B per year for the rights to stream "Thursday Night Football" games that were blasted by former players, broadcasters and fans during and after the 2022 season due to their lack of quality. Thus, it's understandable owners would cave to the company's request to ensure midweek matchups are as attractive as possible over the second half of the campaign. 

Davis sounded unmoved regarding Amazon's investment. 

"Everybody should get the respect," Davis said about teams being featured in prime time. "That’s the part I’m strong on."