WEBVTT - How the NFL Schedule is Made 0:00:06.026 --> 0:00:09.506 NFL Explained is a production of the NFL in partnership 0:00:09.706 --> 0:00:18.146 with I Heart Radio. Well, one of the biggest days 0:00:18.186 --> 0:00:20.666 of the NFL offseason. It is knocking on the door. 0:00:20.746 --> 0:00:23.226 It is upon us, and no, it's actually not the 0:00:23.306 --> 0:00:29.506 NFL Draft. It's the release of the official NFL schedule. Now, 0:00:29.626 --> 0:00:32.226 NFL fans, you know, you can start planning your tail gates, 0:00:32.346 --> 0:00:34.226 look ahead to see if there's a chance to get 0:00:34.266 --> 0:00:37.106 to see Tom Brady one more or ten more times. 0:00:37.146 --> 0:00:39.266 I am not convinced that this is the final run 0:00:39.386 --> 0:00:41.866 for him. Maybe he's playing on Monday night. Or you 0:00:41.866 --> 0:00:45.026 can possibly purchase those hotel rooms and airline tickets to 0:00:45.106 --> 0:00:48.506 one of those international games that are being played this season. Yeah, 0:00:48.506 --> 0:00:50.426 I'd love to go to one of those. I'm like yeah. 0:00:50.506 --> 0:00:53.026 And today on NFL Explained, we are taking a look 0:00:53.066 --> 0:00:56.546 at how the NFL schedule is created. Now, by looking 0:00:56.586 --> 0:00:58.786 at the schedule, it might seem like it's the simplest 0:00:58.786 --> 0:01:01.786 place in teams into home and away games. It's why 0:01:01.866 --> 0:01:05.306 more complicated. In reality, it's like a giant Rubik's cube. 0:01:05.346 --> 0:01:08.266 There are two hundred and seventy two games spread out 0:01:08.306 --> 0:01:11.546 over eighteen weeks. Let that digest for just a moment, 0:01:11.546 --> 0:01:14.066 two hundred and seventy two games, not just your team. 0:01:14.106 --> 0:01:16.866 There's a lot of moving parts here, plus the international games, 0:01:16.906 --> 0:01:19.186 scheduling conflicts for the stadiums because you know that there's 0:01:19.186 --> 0:01:21.106 always a cool concert that you gotta check out in 0:01:21.146 --> 0:01:23.186 your local city, and of course making sure that the 0:01:23.266 --> 0:01:26.386 key matchups make it into primetime. So trying to understand 0:01:26.426 --> 0:01:28.986 how the NFL schedule is created is like trying to 0:01:29.026 --> 0:01:31.746 read a foreign language and almost impossible for me to 0:01:31.786 --> 0:01:34.826 try to explain. Trust me, it is really complicated. So 0:01:34.866 --> 0:01:37.466 this week on NFL Explain how the schedule is created, 0:01:37.506 --> 0:01:39.666 we're listening to the experts who can do it way 0:01:39.666 --> 0:01:42.026 more eloquently than I can, on how they actually put 0:01:42.066 --> 0:01:45.666 together the full eighteen week NFL scheduled. And if you 0:01:45.666 --> 0:01:47.986 actually like to see the video that accompanies the audio 0:01:48.026 --> 0:01:49.546 clips that you're about to hear, all you have to 0:01:49.546 --> 0:01:52.226 do just head over to the NFL Explained YouTube channel 0:01:52.306 --> 0:01:56.146 and search for how the NFL schedule is created. Trust me, 0:01:56.346 --> 0:01:58.626 it is awesome to see it visually, as well as 0:01:58.626 --> 0:02:00.906 a bonus to fill in any questions that actually aren't 0:02:00.946 --> 0:02:02.826 answered from the clips that were picking. I actually had 0:02:02.866 --> 0:02:05.066 a chance to sit down with Mike North, and trust me, 0:02:05.106 --> 0:02:07.746 the dude is awesome to give us all the three here. 0:02:07.786 --> 0:02:09.826 It's on how they actually try to build the most 0:02:09.866 --> 0:02:12.186 optimal schedule. Trust me, I know I keep saying it's 0:02:12.266 --> 0:02:14.786 it's it's so much harder than you could possibly even fathom. 0:02:14.866 --> 0:02:18.186 But the NFL schedule team is basically made up of 0:02:18.266 --> 0:02:21.146 people that you want on your team, Howard Kats, Mike North, 0:02:21.386 --> 0:02:25.146 Charlotte Carry, Annie Bows, Blake Jones, and Nick Cooney. And 0:02:25.186 --> 0:02:26.986 they get right to work as soon as the clock 0:02:27.066 --> 0:02:29.506 hit zero on the NFL regular season to come up 0:02:29.506 --> 0:02:32.466 with the next season schedule to showcase the league's best 0:02:32.506 --> 0:02:37.186 matchups and talent every single week. When the regular season 0:02:37.346 --> 0:02:40.906 ended on January three, you know, Monday, January four, we 0:02:40.906 --> 0:02:43.466 were right on the software loading in what we now 0:02:43.546 --> 0:02:47.586 knew to be the two seventy two matchups one and 0:02:47.786 --> 0:02:52.266 the matchups are set by a combination of rotation and 0:02:52.546 --> 0:02:57.306 previous years standings. The NFL has thirty two teams, and 0:02:57.386 --> 0:03:00.386 we are divided into two conferences of sixteen teams each, 0:03:00.706 --> 0:03:03.706 and within each conference we've got four divisions of four 0:03:03.746 --> 0:03:07.106 teams each. So now, of course, the seventeen games you're 0:03:07.106 --> 0:03:10.826 gonna have every team plays their three division opponents each 0:03:10.866 --> 0:03:13.346 home and away, so that's six games that every team 0:03:13.346 --> 0:03:15.866 in that division will play another division in their own 0:03:15.906 --> 0:03:18.826 conference to home tow away, so that's four more games. 0:03:18.826 --> 0:03:21.626 That's ten total. And then they'll play a division in 0:03:21.666 --> 0:03:25.266 the other conference in its entirety to home tow away, 0:03:25.306 --> 0:03:28.946 so that's fourteen total. Now there's two more in your 0:03:29.146 --> 0:03:32.226 conference by standings, the first place team in the East 0:03:32.386 --> 0:03:34.066 will play the first place team in the South, and 0:03:34.106 --> 0:03:36.026 the West, the second place will play the two seconds, 0:03:36.066 --> 0:03:38.106 the third will play the two thirds, so that's two 0:03:38.106 --> 0:03:41.266 more games for sixteen, and now in an expanded season, 0:03:41.546 --> 0:03:43.866 will do the same in the other conference, will play 0:03:43.906 --> 0:03:47.426 an interconference game against a division that you are not 0:03:47.546 --> 0:03:49.746 playing already this year, that you didn't play last year, 0:03:49.746 --> 0:03:51.706 that you're not playing next year, and that will be 0:03:51.746 --> 0:03:55.746 a standing space game. This is now even more places 0:03:55.786 --> 0:03:57.786 to put each of those games, and they can go 0:03:57.826 --> 0:03:59.946 now in any one a seventeen weeks. So the solution 0:03:59.986 --> 0:04:03.426 space was already infinite, and we didn't just double or 0:04:03.466 --> 0:04:07.906 triple or quadruple the size of it exponentially increase the 0:04:07.906 --> 0:04:10.066 size of it. We always liken this to try and 0:04:10.066 --> 0:04:11.946 to find the best grain of sand on the beach. 0:04:12.506 --> 0:04:14.666 We're no longer just looking on a beach. We're now 0:04:14.706 --> 0:04:18.586 looking in the Sahara Desert. It is truly, truly infinite. 0:04:18.906 --> 0:04:22.106 We always knew that a seventeen game season was on 0:04:22.146 --> 0:04:25.786 the horizon. Possibly two hundred and fifty six games over 0:04:25.826 --> 0:04:29.746 seventeen weeks, while already all but impossible, it was a 0:04:29.746 --> 0:04:33.946 lot easier than two D seventy two games over eighteen weeks. Look. 0:04:33.986 --> 0:04:36.146 I think that when you go from two hundred fifty 0:04:36.146 --> 0:04:39.026 six games to two D seventy two games, it feels 0:04:39.106 --> 0:04:41.426 like it's sixteen more games. How much harder could it be? 0:04:41.546 --> 0:04:44.666 But when you think about it mathematically in the search space, 0:04:44.826 --> 0:04:48.146 sixteen additional games and a two D seventy two game 0:04:48.226 --> 0:04:52.426 grid just made it exponentially bigger. I can't even quantify 0:04:52.466 --> 0:04:54.626 the numbers. The easiest way to think about it I 0:04:54.666 --> 0:04:56.826 found when I explained it to people is if Howard 0:04:56.866 --> 0:04:59.906 Katz or Roger Goodell says to us, here's ten games 0:04:59.986 --> 0:05:02.066 that I think should be on Sunday night football, there's 0:05:02.146 --> 0:05:05.066 three point six million ways just to lay out those 0:05:05.066 --> 0:05:08.106 ten Sunday night football games. I'm gonna let that sink 0:05:08.146 --> 0:05:12.746 in for a second, three point six million possibilities just 0:05:13.066 --> 0:05:16.826 because Commissioner Goodell might want ten games there. I mean, 0:05:16.986 --> 0:05:19.066 if that gives you some context on the moving parts. 0:05:19.186 --> 0:05:21.506 Kind of crazy, right, It is not easy, But the 0:05:21.586 --> 0:05:24.666 daunting task of creating the NFL schedule didn't actually always 0:05:24.666 --> 0:05:28.146 have computers or coded formulas to make their job easier. 0:05:28.186 --> 0:05:31.466 It was actually done by hand on a corkboard by 0:05:31.506 --> 0:05:34.626 the late Valel Pinchback. Now, Val, who's actually in the 0:05:34.666 --> 0:05:37.226 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame, would sit for hours in 0:05:37.266 --> 0:05:41.466 his office trying to create the perfect NFL schedule by hand, 0:05:42.186 --> 0:05:45.266 no computers. But what you can't see by listening to 0:05:45.306 --> 0:05:48.426 this next clip is the board value used to work with. 0:05:48.586 --> 0:05:51.466 It's a simple, old fashioned corkboard. You got the color 0:05:51.546 --> 0:05:55.386 coded tabs, the pushpins. The team actually might use Excel 0:05:55.466 --> 0:05:58.506 spreadsheets now, but the board is still around and hangs 0:05:58.586 --> 0:06:00.626 on the wall in the war room. And of course 0:06:00.666 --> 0:06:03.146 it does, right. It's a memento and it just looks 0:06:03.186 --> 0:06:06.106 really cool. Now. The team where it gathers to solve 0:06:06.266 --> 0:06:09.986 NFL schedule, that's where the actual board still hangs. That room, 0:06:10.026 --> 0:06:13.066 which is aptly called the vale a Pinchbeck Jr. Room, 0:06:13.146 --> 0:06:15.426 it's just cool. Like I highly recommend just checking out 0:06:15.426 --> 0:06:17.306 the video so you can see just how daunting this 0:06:17.466 --> 0:06:19.106 task is. And you see all the push pins and 0:06:19.146 --> 0:06:21.706 the tabs. It's pretty crazy. But for a little more context, 0:06:21.786 --> 0:06:23.866 Mike North actually starts us off by taking us through 0:06:23.906 --> 0:06:26.266 the history of how the schedule was created with Valve 0:06:26.466 --> 0:06:29.626 up until today, where the team actually uses computers to 0:06:29.666 --> 0:06:32.946 create the schedule. Technology. Oh, I love it. It has 0:06:33.026 --> 0:06:36.506 made the process somewhat easier. Even though it might be 0:06:36.546 --> 0:06:40.866 computer driven, it still takes thousands of computers running algorithms 0:06:40.906 --> 0:06:43.866 to create the best possible schedule. I feel like Cynthia 0:06:43.906 --> 0:06:45.826 Freeland should be involved in this, But the point is 0:06:46.146 --> 0:06:48.186 Mike North and his team they got a lot of 0:06:48.186 --> 0:06:52.266 work to do. Val is kind of the legendary schedule 0:06:52.306 --> 0:06:54.986 maker of the NFL for you know, many many years 0:06:55.026 --> 0:06:58.226 and created the schedule during that time when the NFL 0:06:58.506 --> 0:07:00.906 grew to prominence. If I'm proud of something that's being 0:07:00.946 --> 0:07:03.426 part of the NFL when it gone went from sort 0:07:03.426 --> 0:07:05.546 of a mom and pop thing in the sixties to 0:07:05.906 --> 0:07:09.386 a kind of big business it is today. Valve you know, 0:07:09.546 --> 0:07:13.106 on you know, sheer force of mental will and intuition 0:07:13.586 --> 0:07:15.986 built a schedule by hand, and they were lucky to 0:07:16.026 --> 0:07:19.026 complete one and felt great to complete one that was 0:07:19.226 --> 0:07:23.026 legal and played all the games and got Network TV done. 0:07:23.426 --> 0:07:27.226 And we churned through hundreds every day. And so Val 0:07:27.346 --> 0:07:30.026 used to build the schedule with a board just like this. 0:07:30.186 --> 0:07:33.026 He would sit here and all these tags would be 0:07:33.106 --> 0:07:35.466 hanging down here at the bottom of the board, and 0:07:35.546 --> 0:07:37.266 it would be a blank piece of paper. It would 0:07:37.306 --> 0:07:39.986 be carte blanche Christmas morning. You could do anything you wanted, 0:07:40.306 --> 0:07:43.306 and we would start hanging these tags up one at 0:07:43.306 --> 0:07:45.986 a time. Every game that you like, you put one 0:07:46.026 --> 0:07:48.066 of these colored pins in. These are for our national 0:07:48.106 --> 0:07:50.946 television partners. So if you like this game, this green 0:07:51.026 --> 0:07:54.106 pin goes in the Atlanta Carolina game, and that's on 0:07:54.106 --> 0:07:56.986 Sunday Night Football in Week three. Now, if anybody came 0:07:57.026 --> 0:07:59.226 by this board and gave it a whack, all the 0:07:59.266 --> 0:08:02.306 other tags could fall off, but not that Atlanta Carolina 0:08:02.346 --> 0:08:04.306 game on Sunday Night Football and Week three, that's the 0:08:04.306 --> 0:08:06.306 one that we want in that week, and all the 0:08:06.346 --> 0:08:09.266 others really just needed to find a home. As we 0:08:09.346 --> 0:08:11.866 built the schedule by hand, every single one of these 0:08:11.866 --> 0:08:13.826 tags that moved every single one of these pins that 0:08:13.946 --> 0:08:16.986 moved caused a ripple effect that you couldn't even begin 0:08:17.026 --> 0:08:19.866 to consider. While you were doing this, one dag at 0:08:19.866 --> 0:08:22.906 a time, one game at a time. And Val was 0:08:22.946 --> 0:08:26.146 a savant. Val could sit and stare at this board 0:08:26.706 --> 0:08:29.946 for hours on end, and he would sit here and 0:08:29.986 --> 0:08:33.626 he would crack open pistachios and he would eat the 0:08:33.626 --> 0:08:37.146 pistachios and stare at the board, and he put the 0:08:37.226 --> 0:08:41.146 shells on his belly. And so after about twenty minutes 0:08:41.186 --> 0:08:43.866 he'd have a whole bunch of empty shells and he'd 0:08:43.866 --> 0:08:47.666 gets struck by inspiration. He'd stand up, dumped the shells 0:08:47.666 --> 0:08:51.586 into the garbage. Move this tag here, move that tag there, 0:08:51.706 --> 0:08:54.666 move that tag there, and move that tag there. It 0:08:54.786 --> 0:08:58.066 was amazing to watch. It's inconceivable to think that we 0:08:58.106 --> 0:09:00.226 could even do this thing by hand right now. So 0:09:00.266 --> 0:09:03.146 we're very fortunate to have a really robust piece of 0:09:03.186 --> 0:09:07.466 software that essentially looks just like this. When we talk 0:09:07.546 --> 0:09:10.946 about what our software prints out, it prints out this board, 0:09:11.026 --> 0:09:13.986 the reds and blues for CBS and Fox, the greens 0:09:13.986 --> 0:09:17.466 and yellows for NBC and ESPN. We essentially built a 0:09:17.506 --> 0:09:20.786 piece of software to mirror the process that value used 0:09:20.826 --> 0:09:23.626 to go through when he sat here with his pistachio 0:09:23.746 --> 0:09:26.186 nuts and stared at it. So this looks a lot 0:09:26.346 --> 0:09:28.746 like that. It's the same colors, it's the same grid, 0:09:28.786 --> 0:09:31.506 it's the same columns in the same rows. This piece 0:09:31.546 --> 0:09:33.506 of software was built by a company out of Western 0:09:33.546 --> 0:09:37.066 Canada called Optimal Planning Solutions. So we write the rules 0:09:37.066 --> 0:09:40.626 in the software, and then the software from Optimal Planning 0:09:40.706 --> 0:09:45.466 uses an optimizer called Grobi optimization, which takes all the 0:09:45.546 --> 0:09:47.826 rules and really tries to figure out, Okay, if there's 0:09:47.826 --> 0:09:50.026 an infinite solution space, and these are all the rules 0:09:50.026 --> 0:09:52.426 I have to follow, where do I even start. When 0:09:52.466 --> 0:09:54.906 we asked the computer to go off and search through 0:09:54.906 --> 0:09:56.946 the infinite space, not only does it need to know 0:09:57.426 --> 0:09:59.586 which of these games are eligible for which of these 0:09:59.626 --> 0:10:01.866 time slots, and certainly which of these stadiums are not 0:10:01.906 --> 0:10:06.986 available for various conflicts, and what are our travel considerations 0:10:07.066 --> 0:10:09.306 and all the stuff that we're asking it to consider 0:10:09.746 --> 0:10:14.146 in that consideration list is competitive fairness. So the way 0:10:14.146 --> 0:10:16.706 we do that is with a negative based scoring system, 0:10:16.706 --> 0:10:18.986 where we put a penalty on all the things we 0:10:19.026 --> 0:10:22.626 don't want to see. That's both team wise and television wise, So, 0:10:22.706 --> 0:10:24.986 for instance, three game road trips and road after road 0:10:25.026 --> 0:10:27.666 mondays and early buys, and to a way to start 0:10:27.706 --> 0:10:29.266 and too a way to finish, and all the things 0:10:29.266 --> 0:10:31.306 that we know the coaches and general managers don't like. 0:10:31.426 --> 0:10:33.306 If I had a three game road trip last year, 0:10:33.546 --> 0:10:35.346 then the penalty for me having a three game road 0:10:35.346 --> 0:10:38.546 trip again this year should be significantly higher than for 0:10:38.586 --> 0:10:40.866 someone else who probably hasn't had a three game road 0:10:40.866 --> 0:10:43.706 trips since two thousand and three. We're also writing rules 0:10:43.746 --> 0:10:46.626 about a strong Sunday night football schedule, a strong Monday 0:10:46.706 --> 0:10:49.226 night football schedule, a strong Thursday night football schedule. If 0:10:49.266 --> 0:10:51.586 we can't deliver all those things that our network partners 0:10:51.586 --> 0:10:53.626 are looking for, that should bring a penalty as well. 0:10:53.986 --> 0:10:58.386 The lower the score, hopefully, the less disappointed the clubs 0:10:58.426 --> 0:11:00.986 and the television partners are going to be. The ability 0:11:01.266 --> 0:11:04.466 for our software can't be underestimated in the sense that 0:11:04.626 --> 0:11:08.626 being able to access hundreds, if not thousands, of machines 0:11:08.706 --> 0:11:12.266 on a daily, nightly hourly basis, and and just the 0:11:12.266 --> 0:11:16.026 computing power that's involved in there allows us to turn 0:11:16.066 --> 0:11:20.866 around scenarios and changes how we are able to think bigger, 0:11:21.746 --> 0:11:24.866 analyze more, but also reactive things. We can go in 0:11:24.986 --> 0:11:27.906 and we can look at it. These are four separate clusters. 0:11:28.306 --> 0:11:31.106 There's between two hundred and three hundred computers in each 0:11:31.106 --> 0:11:34.226 one of these clusters, and each one of these clusters 0:11:34.346 --> 0:11:36.946 is looking on a slightly different part of the beach. 0:11:37.546 --> 0:11:39.746 This one might have green Bay, Kansas City on Sunday 0:11:39.826 --> 0:11:42.226 Night Football in week seven. This one might have green Bay, 0:11:42.306 --> 0:11:44.626 Kansas City on Sunday Night football. And week nine, this 0:11:44.666 --> 0:11:46.426 one might not have green Bay, Kansas City on Sunday 0:11:46.466 --> 0:11:48.906 Night football at all. It might be on Monday Night football. 0:11:49.066 --> 0:11:50.786 And this one might have green Bay, Kansas City as 0:11:50.786 --> 0:11:53.506 a Fox doubleheader. So it will run on this one 0:11:53.546 --> 0:11:56.346 seed schedule, that one computer for as long as it takes. 0:11:56.626 --> 0:12:00.346 And so every single day we have thousands of computers, 0:12:00.546 --> 0:12:03.826 all with slightly different seed schedules, all searching through this 0:12:03.866 --> 0:12:06.906 infinite space trying to find a better score. They can 0:12:06.906 --> 0:12:08.706 do a lot of aim high steering for us that 0:12:08.746 --> 0:12:11.106 we could never do when we were building this schedule 0:12:11.106 --> 0:12:13.466 by hand. All right, So I get it, your head 0:12:13.506 --> 0:12:16.106 is spinning. I think if I said to Mike, and 0:12:16.186 --> 0:12:17.946 we actually have the interview with Mike North coming up 0:12:17.946 --> 0:12:19.866 in just a bit, so maybe we'll ask him this question. 0:12:19.946 --> 0:12:22.346 But the process that Mike just sort of laid out 0:12:22.706 --> 0:12:26.666 val essentially did the job of thousands of computers, which 0:12:27.106 --> 0:12:29.506 Mike said he's a savant, and he is because it's remarkable. 0:12:29.786 --> 0:12:31.826 So now that the computers have actually done their thing, 0:12:31.906 --> 0:12:34.546 what happens next, Well, Howard Katz and the team actually 0:12:34.586 --> 0:12:38.226 have to present the strongest schedule to the commissioner, Roger Goodell. Now, 0:12:38.266 --> 0:12:40.386 the schedule has got to feature the best teams and 0:12:40.586 --> 0:12:43.026 player matchups every single week. But what happens at the 0:12:43.106 --> 0:12:45.826 end of March when free agency hits or team trades. 0:12:46.066 --> 0:12:48.586 It's star quarterback I don't know, like Russell Wilson all 0:12:48.626 --> 0:12:50.706 of a sudden is a member of the Denver Broncos, 0:12:50.906 --> 0:12:52.666 and the rest of the a f C West goes 0:12:52.706 --> 0:12:55.346 on a free agent spending spree that we have maybe 0:12:55.386 --> 0:12:59.666 never seen before. Well, when we return on NFL Explained, 0:12:59.666 --> 0:13:01.666 I get the chance to talk to Mike North about 0:13:01.666 --> 0:13:05.706 how free agency blockbuster deals and how other small details 0:13:05.826 --> 0:13:18.586 could possibly affect the schedule. Right before the release state, Hi, 0:13:18.666 --> 0:13:20.986 I'm Mike. Yeah, I mean, welcome back to NFL Explained. 0:13:21.066 --> 0:13:23.506 Now this week we're breaking down how the NFL schedule 0:13:23.746 --> 0:13:26.266 is created. But before the break, we got into the 0:13:26.386 --> 0:13:30.306 history and how technology has made this almost an impossible 0:13:30.426 --> 0:13:32.826 job just a little bit easier. But each year during 0:13:32.866 --> 0:13:35.546 the off season, there are little things that pop up 0:13:35.666 --> 0:13:38.826 or massive things that will arise, like a player switching 0:13:38.866 --> 0:13:42.706 teams that suddenly changes the algorithms and the computers that 0:13:42.746 --> 0:13:45.266 are running to create the best possible schedule. So this 0:13:45.306 --> 0:13:48.466 off season, which has been filled with major personnel changes 0:13:48.506 --> 0:13:50.306 around the league, I I've been calling it. I know 0:13:50.346 --> 0:13:52.666 people around the office have been calling it the craziest 0:13:52.746 --> 0:13:56.666 offseason that the league has ever seen. That probably created 0:13:56.706 --> 0:14:00.346 a little bit of issues for the algorithm or algorithms 0:14:00.426 --> 0:14:02.906 I should say plural, because without sends of computers, like, 0:14:02.946 --> 0:14:04.826 there's a lot going on here. So I got an 0:14:04.826 --> 0:14:07.026 opportunity to sit down out with Mike North to see 0:14:07.066 --> 0:14:17.466 how challenging it actually is to create this season schedule. Mike, 0:14:17.506 --> 0:14:19.746 I think every single year, it's pretty clear that there 0:14:19.786 --> 0:14:23.586 are inherent challenges that are unique to the schedule. What's 0:14:23.626 --> 0:14:26.546 the biggest challenge for this year, Well, there's a few 0:14:26.546 --> 0:14:29.506 of them. One of them was all the uncertainty as 0:14:29.546 --> 0:14:32.506 we started the process. Generally speaking, you walk into that 0:14:32.586 --> 0:14:35.106 room the day after the Super Bowl, and you know 0:14:35.186 --> 0:14:37.426 Howard Kat's and Annie Bows and the team already have 0:14:37.506 --> 0:14:40.786 a feel for uh, this is musty TV. This is 0:14:40.826 --> 0:14:43.346 the biggest game or the top three biggest games of 0:14:43.386 --> 0:14:44.946 the year. Here's a couple of teams we think are 0:14:44.986 --> 0:14:48.746 on the rise. Let's make sure we showcase them properly. U. 0:14:48.946 --> 0:14:50.986 I'm not sure we had that when we walked into 0:14:51.026 --> 0:14:54.106 the room right after the Super Bowl. Obviously Tom Brady 0:14:54.466 --> 0:14:59.546 was retired at the time. So as I've talked about 0:14:59.586 --> 0:15:01.146 lots of times, you know, we try to treat each 0:15:01.146 --> 0:15:03.666 one of these two seventy two games as an asset, 0:15:04.066 --> 0:15:06.986 and they're all worth something, whether give it a score 0:15:07.226 --> 0:15:10.466 or a metric, or a rating or a grade, however 0:15:10.506 --> 0:15:13.146 it is. You delineate between the value of this game 0:15:13.266 --> 0:15:15.946 versus that game. Every game has got a score to it. 0:15:16.466 --> 0:15:18.866 And the Tampa Bay games were worth something when Tom 0:15:18.866 --> 0:15:22.346 Brady was their quarterback. They were worth something different when 0:15:22.386 --> 0:15:25.546 Tom Brady was retired, and they were suddenly worth something 0:15:25.586 --> 0:15:28.466 different again when Tom Brady decided that he had enough. 0:15:28.626 --> 0:15:32.186 So we, uh, we had to be kind of flexible, 0:15:32.906 --> 0:15:35.346 you know, even as we started this process, knowing that 0:15:35.466 --> 0:15:39.546 there were still some dominoes to fall. Obviously, Russell Wilson 0:15:39.746 --> 0:15:43.346 changing teams like he did makes you look immediately for 0:15:43.466 --> 0:15:46.626 a game like Denver at Seattle. You know, our job 0:15:46.666 --> 0:15:48.906 here is to tell the biggest stories in the biggest 0:15:48.946 --> 0:15:50.666 windows and make sure that the fans that want to 0:15:50.706 --> 0:15:54.106 watch the biggest games have an opportunity to you know, 0:15:54.186 --> 0:15:58.586 the Denver at Seattle game, Russell Wilson's return after twenty years, 0:15:58.626 --> 0:16:01.026 and all those all pro nods in a Super Bowl ring. 0:16:01.426 --> 0:16:03.306 You know, we're not doing our jobs if that game 0:16:03.386 --> 0:16:06.386 falls it you know, one oh five Pacific time with 0:16:06.466 --> 0:16:09.706 two other games going on opposite a big doubleheader game 0:16:10.226 --> 0:16:13.306 on Fox that day. I mean, that's not good use 0:16:13.386 --> 0:16:17.106 of the Denver at Seattle asset. So how do you 0:16:17.106 --> 0:16:19.386 find the right home for that game? You know, like 0:16:19.426 --> 0:16:22.426 we said, Tom Brady coming back, the Buccaneers have an 0:16:22.426 --> 0:16:25.706 incredible schedule this year. They played Green Day, they played Dallas, 0:16:25.786 --> 0:16:29.186 they played the Super Bowl champion Rams, they play Cincinnati, 0:16:29.186 --> 0:16:31.986 they played Kansas City. I mean, it's amazing all the 0:16:31.986 --> 0:16:35.426 good Tampa Bay games this year. They were gonna be assets. 0:16:35.466 --> 0:16:38.426 Even if Tom Brady had decided to remain retired They're 0:16:38.426 --> 0:16:40.786 obviously worth a lot more with him back under center, 0:16:40.866 --> 0:16:43.706 So we kind of had to shift like we always do, 0:16:43.986 --> 0:16:46.586 and we joke, you know, the project changes not only 0:16:46.626 --> 0:16:49.906 every year but really every day, and this year was 0:16:50.106 --> 0:16:53.106 no different and in fact, maybe even more challenging than ever. 0:16:53.626 --> 0:16:55.946 How crazy is the text read with you and your 0:16:55.986 --> 0:16:59.586 team over the course of free agency. You mentioned Brady, Look, 0:16:59.626 --> 0:17:02.426 I was doing shows and it's just kind of wild 0:17:02.586 --> 0:17:05.546 to see the amount of movement I've classified. This is 0:17:05.546 --> 0:17:08.826 the craziest you know, offseason maybe the NFL has ever had. 0:17:09.586 --> 0:17:11.906 Is it is the communication like, oh my god, this 0:17:11.946 --> 0:17:14.026 is really cooler, Oh my god, Like, hey, the piece 0:17:14.026 --> 0:17:17.226 of the schedule we just we're working on just got busted. Yeah, 0:17:17.306 --> 0:17:19.786 bit of both. I mean, the good part about the 0:17:19.826 --> 0:17:25.426 scheduling team is we are all still fans, big fans, 0:17:25.866 --> 0:17:29.026 and your gut reaction to a big move. Yeah, there's 0:17:29.066 --> 0:17:31.546 a lot of holy cow and o mgs and and 0:17:31.586 --> 0:17:35.866 stuff like that, sharing of Twitter feeds, um, and then 0:17:35.906 --> 0:17:38.986 you take a second and now you think to yourself, professionally, 0:17:39.346 --> 0:17:42.346 oh man, everything we've just worked on for the last 0:17:42.386 --> 0:17:45.186 two weeks, three weeks, two months, three months. Right in 0:17:45.186 --> 0:17:47.906 the trash start all over again. Tomorrow is gonna be fun. 0:17:48.106 --> 0:17:52.026 But you know, this is what makes the NFL so great. 0:17:52.066 --> 0:17:54.506 You know, it's not just the off season movement, but 0:17:54.906 --> 0:17:56.946 you know it happens in season as well. I mean, 0:17:56.986 --> 0:17:59.106 look what happened last year and the last few weeks 0:17:59.106 --> 0:18:01.586 of the season. You had teams go from you know, 0:18:01.666 --> 0:18:04.946 the one seed to missing the playoffs. You had the 0:18:05.066 --> 0:18:07.906 Rams play in for the two seed, losing in the 0:18:07.946 --> 0:18:10.226 final week, dropping all the way to the four still 0:18:10.346 --> 0:18:13.586 end up posting the championship game. You know, every weekend, 0:18:13.586 --> 0:18:16.426 as you go down the stretch right there, the league 0:18:16.426 --> 0:18:19.226 seems to turn on its ear, and so the scheduling 0:18:19.226 --> 0:18:21.066 team is busy at that point as well, thinking about 0:18:21.106 --> 0:18:24.386 flexible scheduling for Sunday night and Saturday games and looking 0:18:24.386 --> 0:18:26.106 ahead to which games are gonna be scheduled in which 0:18:26.106 --> 0:18:29.706 playoff windows. So it's great as a fan that there 0:18:29.786 --> 0:18:32.066 is so much uncertainty and so much turnover and so 0:18:32.146 --> 0:18:34.586 much volatility in the league. But yeah, as a member 0:18:34.626 --> 0:18:37.226 of the scheduling team, yeah, it'd be nice if everybody 0:18:37.266 --> 0:18:39.666 just picked their teams and stayed in one place on 0:18:39.746 --> 0:18:42.506 February seven, But we know that's not how it works, 0:18:42.506 --> 0:18:44.826 and we were braced for it this year, and I 0:18:44.906 --> 0:18:47.866 think we got a lot of good experience last year 0:18:47.946 --> 0:18:53.026 with our first seventeen game eighteen weeks season. We knew 0:18:53.226 --> 0:18:57.106 that that the solution space, which was already essentially infinite 0:18:57.626 --> 0:19:00.466 um more than doubled or tripled in size. Now it 0:19:00.546 --> 0:19:04.106 exponentially increased, just because every single game now has another 0:19:04.146 --> 0:19:08.066 potential home. We all last year how incredibly vast the 0:19:08.106 --> 0:19:11.066 solution space was and sort of convinced ourselves, Hey, there's 0:19:11.106 --> 0:19:13.466 a schedule out there. If you're looking for one that 0:19:13.506 --> 0:19:14.946 has this game in week four and that game in 0:19:14.946 --> 0:19:16.626 week eight, and this game on CBS and that game 0:19:16.666 --> 0:19:18.826 on ESPN, and doesn't give that team a three game 0:19:18.946 --> 0:19:20.946 road trip and make sure that this team has an 0:19:20.986 --> 0:19:23.186 East Coast game on their way to Europe. There's a 0:19:23.226 --> 0:19:25.546 schedule out there. Mike. What's kind of crazy is we're 0:19:25.546 --> 0:19:28.506 talking about player movement and the changes that come with 0:19:28.626 --> 0:19:31.626 roster and how it affects the schedule. You know, Look, 0:19:31.626 --> 0:19:35.266 maybe this is inside baseball, but obviously a broadcaster myself, 0:19:35.306 --> 0:19:38.666 I can't help but notice the amount of broadcast teams 0:19:38.746 --> 0:19:41.586 that have now changed when it comes to play by 0:19:41.586 --> 0:19:44.466 play and color analysts now switching networks? Does that at 0:19:44.466 --> 0:19:47.826 all have an effect on the schedule? Look again, as 0:19:47.906 --> 0:19:52.186 fans and as consumers and as viewers, it can't not 0:19:52.706 --> 0:19:55.426 have an effect. I can't tell you that all of 0:19:55.426 --> 0:19:58.626 a sudden, you know, the ESPN schedule went from you know, 0:19:59.466 --> 0:20:01.706 A to an A plus simply because they spent all 0:20:01.706 --> 0:20:05.026 that extra money on bucking Ekman. But you know, certainly 0:20:05.106 --> 0:20:09.626 their first game together in an ESPN booth. Mmmm, that's 0:20:09.666 --> 0:20:11.826 kind of interesting. And there's a handful of games this 0:20:11.906 --> 0:20:15.306 year that are gonna be simulcast on ABC plus you 0:20:15.346 --> 0:20:17.706