NFL VP of Broadcast: We gave the Chiefs hardest schedule in the league

[dirk digler]

That is some bullshit. Yes we got Mahomes and Taylor but jfc we don't need to play all these national games on short weeks.

Even though NFL VP of Broadcast Planning Mike North admits the “Chiefs have been our belcow for a while”, the league is aware that it “maybe gave the Chiefs the hardest schedule in the league.”

🎧 https://t.co/mIBxyagJwm pic.twitter.com/zXFxcSo9Kt

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 22, 2024

“Good teams win, bad teams struggle,” said North. “You could give a team that doesn’t have a great roster, the quote-unquote easiest schedule, and they’re still going to go 4-13. You could give the Kansas City Chiefs the worst possible schedule, and some have been saying we did, right? They’re playing every day of the week except a Tuesday. They’ve got multiple short weeks and catch Buffalo off their bye, and Taylor Swift is gonna be there. Like, we maybe gave the Chiefs the hardest schedule in the league. I suspect they’re gonna be there come playoff time.

“These are the kind of things that we’re trying to think about — not just maximizing viewership, fan interest, and attendance and those kind of things, but what are the truly competitive inequities that we really need to be focused on and really need to avoid? I’m not sure we’ve really found that yet.”

“They’ve been our bell cow for a while, right?” North explained of the Chiefs. “They’re kind of used to carrying our water for some of these unique opportunities here. You think about that Peacock playoff game last year. If you want to make Peacock a destination for an NFL playoff game, well, put a Chiefs game there. If Amazon wants to continue to try to build Black Friday into an event, even though it’s not a national holiday, but can we turn it into one — where instead of going to the mall, we’re gonna stay home and watch a game on television at 3 o’clock in the afternoon? Put a Chiefs game there.

“You want to make Christmas on Netflix a thing? Put a Chiefs game there. You can’t go to that well over and over again. There are only so many Chiefs games and obviously, a lot of other really good teams and good stars and storylines in this league. But the Chiefs definitely were not surprised by their national television windows and some of the windows we decided to use them.”