John Mara calls NFL's tabled plan to flex games to Thursday 'abusive'

PHOENIX — John Mara was not only glad the NFL tabled a proposed plan to flex more competitive games into the Thursday night window, he was livid it was even being discussed.

“I am adamantly opposed to that,” the Giants’ co-owner said as he departed the NFL’s annual league meeting on Tuesday. “Flexible scheduling, as it is, is really inconsiderate to our season ticket holders and the people who fill our stadiums every week. People have gotten used to going from Sunday afternoon to Sunday night. That doesn’t mean that they like it. This year we can be flexed to Monday night which I think is really inconsiderate to our ticket holders. But to flex a game back to Thursday night, to me, is just abusive and I am adamantly opposed to it.”

There was a compromise. Teams have normally been limited to only one Thursday night game per season. This coming season some teams will play multiple Thursday games. Mara said he is “not crazy about” that either.

“At some point can we please give some consideration to the people who are coming to the games?” Mara said.

The dip in viewership for some lackluster contests streaming on Amazon on Thursday nights prompted the urge to flex games there. It was an initiative that had commissioner Roger Goodell and several powerful owners behind it. Goodell rejected Mara’s categorization.

“There isn’t anyone in that room who doesn’t put the fans first,” Goodell said. “Obviously, providing the best matchups for fans is part of what we do.”

Mara seemed disgusted the proposal was only brought to the owners’ attention on Thursday last week with little time to digest the ramifications.

“I think this should have been vetted with the health and safety committee, it should have been vetted with the competition committee, and it wasn’t,” Mara said. “They just tried to push it through. It didn’t pass today, fortunately.”

There are plenty of considerations to make, Mara said, including the safety of the players and the opinions of front office personnel on the rigors of Thursday games after a Sunday game.

“Players don’t like playing on Thursday nights,” Mara said. “We get that. We’ve been doing it once a year. I think adding the second one is not going to be very popular. If they had done a poll of the 32 coaches I think it would have been overwhelmingly against that. And the general managers as well. But they don’t get to cast those votes.”

The owners do. And Mara said it was a “close” vote.

While games between better teams would certainly be more entertaining for viewers, flexed games greatly impact those who attend them in person.

“You know,” Mara said, “people make plans to go to these games weeks and months in advance and to 15 days ahead of time say ‘Sorry folks, that game you were planning on taking your kids to on Sunday at 1 o’clock? It’s now going to be on Thursday night.’ I mean, what are we thinking about?”

Notes & quotes: Mara said the turf at MetLife Stadium and the Giants’ indoor practice facility will be replaced with a monofilament brand before the start of the coming season. The slit film turf employed there for the past few years had been connected with an increased injury rate. A grass surface will have to be installed at MetLife when it hosts World Cup soccer matches in 2026 and Mara said he eventually would like to see natural turf for football games as well. “My hope is we can get to a day at some point in the future where we can have a grass field that we are able to maintain with two different teams in there and all the other events,” he said. “I think we can get there” . . . ESPN reported that there have been two bids of $6 billion for the Commanders and a sale of the franchise could be completed before the draft at the end of April . . . Starting this season NFL players at most positions will be eligible to wear the number 0 on their jersey. Previous rules made 1 the lowest number available.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.