NFL conference championships reportedly could become Sunday, Monday games

Rumors about the NFL making drastic changes to future AFC and NFC Championship Games aren't quieting down ahead of this year's contests. 

Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio reports that one "idea that definitely has some traction among the NFL’s power brokers" is to spread the pair of conference championship games between Sunday and Monday. 

"A source with a finger squarely on the pulse of the league, when asked about the possibility, quickly responded by saying the Sunday game could be played a 4:00 p.m. ET, with the Monday game starting at in the range of a normal Monday night game — 8:00 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. ET time frame," Florio said. "The reply made it clear that folks in the league office have considered the possibility."

As Florio explained, the two-week breaks between the conference championships and Super Bowl Sunday would ensure the winning team from a Monday under the new format wouldn't be at any real disadvantage as it pertains to preparing for the title showdown held in February. 

Multiple stories from in-the-know individuals such as Florio recently suggested that the NFL shifting to neutral-site AFC and NFC Championship Games is essentially "inevitable." This comes after the league chose to make on-the-fly changes for this winter's postseason tournament following the medical emergency involving Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin. 

Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II made it known on Thursday he "hates" the idea of neutral-site conference championship matchups. 

Florio noted in Friday's piece that moving to a Sunday-Monday format for conference championship games would allow the NFL to dominate sports conversations from the week leading up to those events up through at least the subsequent Tuesday. 

"For both games, there would be a longer pregame, and a longer post-game," Florio added. "More attention. More discussion. More everything." 

Football fans around the country will likely loudly complain about neutral-site conference championships over fears that they may miss out on a massive home game involving their favorite team. 

Separating the conference championship contests makes too much financial sense for the NFL not to do it eventually, and embracing such a move wouldn't impact paying customers much more than traditional "Sunday Night Football" and "Monday Night Football" clashes.