Twenty media nuggets on NFL schedule, Dolphins, NBA playoffs
Twenty media nuggets on the NFL schedule and NBA playoffs:
▪ The Dolphins schedule is dull because of its lack of variety (every game is on a Sunday) but also unusual in that it’s the first time since 2008 that Miami has neither a prime-time game nor any game that will be televised to the entire country (not counting Sunday Ticket).
It’s also odd in another way: A schedule that should have been heavy with CBS games instead will feature at least nine games on Fox — eight of which should be on CBS under the spirit of the CBS/AFC and Fox/NFC deals.
A few years ago, the NFL decided to start cross-flexing some road games of AFC teams to Fox and some road games of NFC teams to CBS. It was initially done sparingly, with the goal of balancing out the Sunday schedules without hurting either rights-holder.
But there has been more cross-flexing the past two years, and neither CBS nor Fox has vigorously objected because each has been rewarded with a few appealing games that would traditionally air on the other network.
The upshot for Miami is that four of the team’s first five games, which should be on CBS based on initial terms of the contract, instead will air on Fox: the opener at the Raiders, Week 2 at the 49ers, Week 4 at Minnesota and Week 5 against Cincinnati.
That means Fox’s No. 3 through 6 announcing teams will be the soundtrack for a bunch of Dolphins games this season. Last year, those teams were Adam Amin-Drew Brees, Kenny Albert-Jonathan Vilma, Kevin Kugler-Daryl Johnston and Chris Myers-Mark Schlereth.
▪ The Dolphins have three games in the marquee 4:25 p.m. window, but on all three of those dates, the Dolphins will be the B or C game in that time slot.
On opening day, most of the country will get Washington-Philadelphia at 4:25 p.m. on Fox instead of Dolphins-Raiders.
In Week 2, Washington-Dallas will be the primary Fox 4:25 p.m. game instead of Dolphins-49ers.
And on Nov. 1, CBS will carry Chiefs-Broncos as its primary 4:25 game, with Dolphins-Patriots airing in parts of the East.
At least the Dolphins’ national penetration for those games won’t be nearly as small as say, for a Dolphins-Titans game.
▪ The Dolphins, Jets, Arizona, Tennessee and Las Vegas were the only teams not given a prime-time game. The NFL excluding the Raiders was a curious decision, considering the team drafted popular quarterback Fernando Mendoza first overall.
In a conference call Friday, NFL broadcasting executive Mike North noted that “nobody knows if or when Mendoza might play. It would certainly be great if we knew. We don’t. But they went out and signed a very competent veteran quarterback [Kirk Cousins], and if they find themselves hovering around .500 and playoff-relevant in the middle of the season, they might be a little more reluctant to pull the trigger and move to the rookie.
“And if they are playoff-relevant, they will find themselves flexed into bigger national television windows, whether it’s Sunday night, Monday night, or just a bigger footprint on a Sunday afternoon.”
“Not to point fingers, but I think the best comp is probably Tennessee from last year,” North said. “They drafted No. 1 overall, took a quarterback who looks like he can play in this league [Cam Ward], and they didn’t happen to get a national television appearance last year, either. … We don’t draft our way into prime time. We play our way into prime time.”
So what’s the message for the five teams without a prime-time game?
“That’s what flexible scheduling is for,” North said. “Teams that have played their ways into bigger television windows have the chance to be rewarded.”
The last time the Dolphins didn’t get a prime-time game (2008), they finished 11-5.
▪ The NFL is maximizing holiday weeks more than ever.
Amazon gets Texans at Eagles on Christmas Eve (a Thursday).
The NFL then will oppose what likely will be Lakers, Spurs, Warriors, OKC and Knicks games on Christmas with:
Packers at Bears, 1 p.m. ET (Netflix)
Bills at Broncos, 4:30 p.m. ET (Netflix)
Rams at Seahawks, 8:15 p.m. ET (Fox)
▪ Packers-Rams will be the first Thanksgiving Eve game (on Netflix). The Thanksgiving games will be Bears at Lions (CBS), Eagles at Cowboys (Fox), and Chiefs at Bills (NBC).
▪ Netflix’s package jumped from two games (both on Christmas) to five: The Week 1 49ers-Rams game from Australia (on Thursday, Sept. 10); Packers-Rams on Thanksgiving Eve; Packers-Bears and Bills-Broncos on Christmas and a to-be-determined Week 18 game with playoff implications.
▪ NFL Network, which is now owned by ESPN, will keep seven games: five Sunday morning international games and two games in a Week 16 doubleheader, with two games to be chosen among Panthers-Steelers, Buccaneers-Falcons, Bengals-Colts and Commanders-Vikings.
▪ CBS, NBC and Fox each picked up additional full national games.
CBS added a Bears-at-Bills game on Saturday night in Week 15 (December 19).
Fox added Patriots-Lions at 9:30 a.m. Nov. 15 from Munich and a Seattle-Philadelphia game on Saturday, Dec. 19 at 5 p.m., before the aforementioned CBS game.
NBC added a 4:30 p.m. game on Saturday in Week 17 (Jan. 2), with Peacock getting an 8 p.m. game after that.
The league will pick two games among Washington-Jacksonville, Kansas City-Chargers, Denver-New England and Rams-Tampa Bay for those two slots. Neither will compete with a College Football Playoff game.
▪ NFL Media executive Hans Schroeder said the additional games on streaming services and the major networks hasn’t hurt Sunday Ticket sales.
“We had our highest number of Sunday Ticket subscribers ever” last year, he said. “We also had the highest year of RedZone ever, from a viewership perspective.”
▪ The NFL season opener is on a Wednesday (a Patriots-Seattle Super Bowl rematch on NBC) and the Netflix Australia game is on a Thursday — instead of a Thursday and Friday, like past years – because of a law prohibiting the NFL from opposing high school football beginning on the second Friday in September.
▪ The NFL again will oppose College Football Playoff games on Dec. 19, with Seahawks-Eagles and Bears-Bills opposing opening-round college games that likely will air on TNT.
▪ It took until Year 3, but for the first time as a TV analyst, Tom Brady is returning to New England, to work a Packers-Patriots game on Nov. 9. Boston media has speculated that Rob Gronkowski might be honored that day.
Notably, the Rams have more prime-time games (seven) than either Super Bowl team (Seattle or New England). The Rams are eligible to be flexed into an eighth.
▪ Falcons-Saints is the Week 4 Monday night game on ESPN because commissioner Roger Goodell thought it would be a good idea to mark the 20th anniversary of the Saints returning to play in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Bayou State in 2005.
Atlanta and New Orleans played a classic game in 2006, in the Saints’ first game in New Orleans after the hurricane. That game might be best remembered for Steve Gleason’s blocked punt that was recovered by Curtis Deloatch for the Saints’ first touchdown.
▪ There are no more of those overlapping ABC/ESPN Monday night games, thankfully. Every Monday night window will be a single game.
Here’s the full ESPN Monday night schedule, beginning with Denver-Kansas City on Sept. 14. ABC will simulcast nine of the games.
▪ Here are the flex rules this season: NBC’s Sunday Night Football can be flexed on 12 days notice during Weeks 5 to 10 (but no more than twice), and then again on six days notice in Weeks 12 to 18.
No Sunday night game was assigned yet to NBC on Week 18, as is typically the case.
Monday Night Football can flex out games on 12 days notice in Weeks 12 to 17.
Thursday Night Football games on Prime can be flexed in Week 13, 14 and 15 but with 28 games notice.
▪ On Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), ABC is counter-programming Broncos-Steelers at 3 p.m. with Gators-at-Seminoles at 3:30 p.m.
▪ Besides the addition of the Thanksgiving eve game, more games on Netflix and a few additional CBS and Fox and NBC windows, the other change I noticed was the clear improvement in quality of games on the Amazon Thursday package. Not a single game is hot garbage, at least on paper:
Week 2, Sept. 17 Lions at Bills
Week 3, Sept. 24 Falcons at Packers
Week 4, Oct. 1 Steelers at Browns
Week 5, Oct. 8 Bucs at Cowboys
Week 6, Oct. 15 Seahawks at Broncos
Week 7, Oct. 22 Patriots at Bears
Week 8, Oct. 29 Panthers at Packers
Week 9, Nov. 5 Jaguars at Ravens
Week 10, Nov. 12 Commanders at Giants
Week 11, Nov. 19 Colts at Texans
Week 12, Nov. 27 Broncos at Steelers
Week 13, Dec. 3 Chiefs at Rams
Week 14, Dec. 10 Vikings at Patriots
Week 15, Dec. 17 49ers at Chargers
Week 16, Dec. 24 Texans at Eagles
Week 17, Dec. 31 Ravens at Bengals
NBA playoff media notes
▪ Speaking of Amazon, it was notable that the NBA gave Game 7 of Cavaliers-Pistons to Prime on Sunday, on a day that neither ABC and NBC (who aired most Sunday games) carried a game.
That means that of the four seventh games in the playoffs so far, NBC ended up with two, ABC one and Amazon one. That seems reasonable.
Amazon’s first NBA season is now complete, and it was a success on several levels. Ratings were strong, not much different than ESPN’s postseason ratings to date. (NBC’s ratings have been the highest.)
Aside from video and audio being lost for one minute late in the Heat-Hornets play-in game, the production was exceptional -- not only with the bells and whistles (the snazzy court inside Prime’s Los Angeles studios) but little things, too (like Amazon immediately posting the names of the referees after Stan Van Gundy noted Sunday night that Pistons-Cavs Game 7 was the best officiated game he had seen in the postseason).
The Ian Eagle-Van Gundy “A” team was very good; Van Gundy was sharp and critical throughout the playoffs, hammering the Pistons repeatedly for lack of effort in Game 7 on Sunday.
The Kevin Harlan-Dwyane Wade-Candace Parker No. 2 team developed good chemistry. Brent Barry, taken out of mothballs, was solid. The studio analysts --- Udonis Haslem, Dirk Nowitzki, Blake Griffin and Steve Nash — offered more cogent insight and substance than the Carmelo Anthony/Tracy McGrady/Vince Carter crew on NBC.
▪ Oklahoma City and San Antonio will play every other day, beginning Monday, until resolution of their Western Finals. All games will air on NBC, with Mike Tirico, Reggie Miller and Jamal Crawford on the call. And all will start at 8:30 p.m. except weekend games, which will be at 8.
▪ The Knicks and Cavaliers will play at 8 p.m. every other day, beginning Tuesday, with all games on ESPN (except Game 3, which will be on ABC). Mike Breen, Richard Jefferson and Tim Legler will call the East Finals and NBA Finals.
ESPN/ABC get all 11 NBA Finals and 10 conference finals in this new 11-year media deal.
NBC and Amazon each gets six conference finals, with Amazon streaming one every other year beginning next season.
Here’s my Monday Dolphins 6-pack, with lots of nuggets.
This story was originally published May 18, 2026 at 1:14 PM.
