Flex scheduling explained
4/6/06
The NFL this season will implement for the first time in its history a primetime “flexible scheduling” element on Sundays in Weeks 10-15 and in Week 17.
Flexible scheduling will ensure quality matchups on Sunday night in those weeks and give surprise teams a chance to play their way onto primetime.
The 2006 NFL schedule will list start times for all Sunday games during the “flex” weeks as 1:00 PM ET, except for games played in the Mountain or Pacific Time zones, which will be listed at 4:05 PM ET or 4:15 PM ET.
The NBC Sunday night time slot for “flex” weeks will list teams as “TBD.”
Only Sunday afternoon games are eligible to be moved. Flexible scheduling will not be applied to games airing on Thursday, Saturday or Monday nights.
Just as the six major college football conferences have done for many years, the NFL now will have additional flexibility to move the start times of games on Sundays, using a 12-day notice format.
For example, a game scheduled for Sunday, November 26 could move from a 1:00 PM ET kickoff to an 8:15 PM start, but the change would be made and announced no later than Tuesday, November 14.