Surprised NFL put us in the Sat night time slot

[MizzouHawkGal]

I guess I'm just confused why they wouldn't have it at normal time an hour later (1:05) and play the other one at 4:40 PST / 7:40 EST.

If they they put it at 4:40 EST then you push the second game back to 8:10 EST minimum which is too late. Currently it's set at 3:05 EST/6:40 EST which works far better for the eastern time zone (where 67% of the population lives).

If they moved the first game 1 hour from 3:05 PM EST to 4:05 PM EST, why would they have to move the next game 1.5 hours from 6:40 PM to 8:10 PM? Why wouldn't they just move it to 7:40? That's a reasonable time to start a prime time game on the east coast. Most SNF games throughout the year don't start till 8 or 8:30 EST even when they are played on the east coast.

This weekend's games on Sunday follow the 1:05/4:40 PST schedule - guess I just don't understand why the championship games don't as well.

Because regular season Sunday Night football is too late for many on the east coast as it is it's too late for most in the central time zone. Saturday can be later because nobody is working the next day. They don't want it to be like the regular season because they are looking to get that second game into the primetime slot but they have to have enough time slotted for the pregame/postgame also without it going too far past 10PM EST.

 

[Hasselbeck]

The NFL put us in the Saturday night spot mainly because of Denver also having a home divisional game. The schedule is rotational.. has nothing to do with blowouts and all that fun stuff.

Last year, the Seahawks played the first Saturday game.. this year it was the AFC #1 seed turn to open the divisional round.. hence why NE/Bal is the first game.

Now where the wrench came into play is the second matchup should have been GB/DAL, as Green Bay is the NFC #2 .. but then the league would have had to have Denver play at 11 AM local time on Sunday - something they never do. Thus, Seattle (NFC 1) and Green Bay (NFC 2) were swapped .. since the Packers will kickoff at their usual Noon CT on a Sunday, Denver can play at their usual 2 PM MT and the Seahawks get a night slot, since it being a home game.. you can't play that at 10 AM.

So basically if Denver wasn't the 2 seed, we'd be playing Sunday at 1 .. not tomorrow at 5.

what I think is lame is that the NFC championship game is at 12:05 PST.

???

Also related to the rotation. Last year the NFC Title Game was the late kick. This year it's AFC. Next year it's NFC again.