NFL Had No Inside Information on Aaron Rodgers Decision When Scheduling Steelers
Despite scheduling the Steelers-Jets game for Week 1 and Steelers-Packers for “Sunday Night Football” in Week 8, the NFL had no inside information about Aaron Rodgers’ decision at the time of the Pittsburgh schedule’s elaboration.
Mike North, NFL’s vice president of broadcast and programming, explained on Thursday that the national reputation and the Steelers’ track record were key factors in assigning them prime-time slots, regardless of the quarterback situation.
“We don’t know any more than anyone else,” North stated on a conference call. “The schedule was built with Coach [Mike] Tomlin and the Steelers in mind, and if Aaron decides to play, it will probably make many, if not all, of the Steelers’ games a little more interesting.”
Mike North, NFL Vice President of Broadcasting and Programming
North acknowledged that the league proactively placed the Steelers-Packers game on “Sunday Night Football” in Week 8, in part because Rodgers’ decision could significantly influence the audience and give a television partner an advantage over others that week.
“If you put that game in a time slot where it becomes even bigger, we wouldn’t want to throw one of the partners off balance,” he indicated. “If it fell on Sunday afternoon, for example, it would become the dominant story of the day. Aaron’s first game against his former team. So we put it in a national time slot. If Aaron is the quarterback, it’s a big story. If Aaron is not the quarterback, it’s still Packers, Steelers ‘Sunday Night Football’ in Week 8. We tried to play it safe.”
Mike North, Vice President of Broadcasting and Programming for the NFL
North also added that, if there had been certainty that Rodgers would play for the Steelers, there might have been an adjustment in the Week 1 game against the Jets, Rodgers’ other former team. The game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET on CBS.
Including the game against the Packers, the Steelers have four prime-time games scheduled and an additional independent schedule with the game in Ireland against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 4. North said this has less to do with the quarterback and more to do with the Steelers’ history.
“His sustained success for over a decade here —coach Tomlin has never had a losing season,” North commented. “The Steelers are always relevant for the playoffs at the end, and they have a national fan base, so their track record is what justified the national television exposure for them, the same as probably in previous years.”
Mike North, NFL Vice President of Broadcasting and Programming
