Retiring NFL schedule maker reveals secrets of success

The first kickoff of the 2025 NFL season is months away, but the league's team of schedule makers has already set all 272 matchups. For Howard Katz, the man who has led the league's scheduling effort for the past 20 years, this schedule will be his last. 

At April's NFL owners' meetings, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced Katz, 75, would retire as senior vice president of broadcasting and media operations at the end of May. In a profile in The Athletic, Katz discussed his career trajectory from the broadcasters' side to the NFL and the herculean effort needed to build a schedule accommodating 32 clubs and their personnel.

Katz's final bit of scheduling handiwork will be revealed Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on the NFL Network and ESPN.

"It's funny, usually at the March annual meeting, coaches, general managers, owners, will all be lobbying for something, whether it's more prime-time games, 'Don't send me here after this game," Katz told The Athletic's Jayna Bardahl. "And then by the May meeting, after the schedules come out, I'm hearing from everybody about what they liked or didn't like. People aren't bashful about that."

One surprising detail Katz revealed is that teams won't just request more prime-time games, but that games be scheduled around personal events. These include weddings, bar mitzvahs and even previously planned vacations. Of course, these personal requests clash with the needs of broadcasters looking for teams that can draw the best ratings. And based on a set of leaked games, TV executives seem to believe the ratings golden goose is either the Dallas Cowboys or Kansas City Chiefs.

Not every team will be happy with its schedule. Last year, the Pittsburgh Steelers, who didn't play an AFC North opponent until Week 11, weren't pleased. However, that scheduling handiwork was pushed by Katz, who wanted more division games late in the season. He called it a "central moment" in the scheduling process he supervised. Once the ratings came in and validated his scheduling team, Katz had no regrets.

To help factor in all the variables that shape an NFL season, Katz and his team have 200 to 300 computers run all the possible scheduling scenarios. That's a hefty increase from the two to three computers he started with in 2003 and the pegboard that came before him, when the schedule was made by hand.

According to Katz, his team trains the army of computers to consider thousands of variables. His team then inputs rules, like making sure teams avoid three road games in a row, and the computers create their schedules. Katz would still bring a human element to the schedules by reviewing them, considering what's best for the league and then inputting new rules to help the computers refine their process. 

With the NFL achieving record TV ratings each year, it's safe to assume Katz will have worked stellar matchups into the lineup this season. But not everyone may be thrilled by the number of Chiefs games in prime time.