NFL Schedule Release: Flex Scheduling Now Begins Week 5

Sep 8, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Fans wait to enter the NBC sunday night football bus outside AT&T Stadium prior to the Dallas Cowboys playing against the New York Giants. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

The NFL is going through a lot of changes these days, but one thing remains consistent: the league is still falling all over itself to accommodate NBC.

The Peacock network holds the sweetest spot in the entire weekly schedule, the Sunday night prime time game. Much more than Monday night, that Sunday night spot is the true national game of the week.

The entire flex scheduling idea was introduced just to make sure NBC didn’t get stuck with crappy match-ups between loser teams late in the season. Flex scheduling has worked out so well for NBC that the NFL has decided to extend the policy over a bigger chunk of the season.

In the past, flex scheduling didn’t begin until week 11. But the NFL has announced that starting this year, games as early as week 5 can be flexed into the Sunday night spot.

Just to keep Fox and CBS from screaming their heads off, the NFL has capped the total number of week 5-10 flex games at 2. From week 11 on, there can be a flexed game every week.

NBC is surely happy about this development. And football fans who like big prime time matchups also have reason to celebrate.

Wednesday night at 7 PM CT when the schedule is officially released on NFL Network, we’ll see if the Vikings have any Sunday night games this year to potentially get flexed out of.

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