Good News For NFL Fans

In an off season dominated by bounty talk and a few other misgivings some good news for NFL fans.  The league and their TV partners announced that the late Sunday afternoon kickoffs of games will be moved to 4.25 from their 4.15 start times.

For many NFL fans this will mean if a 1 oclock kick off game runs long because of a penalty filled gamed, or perhaps an injury filled game, or even an OT game, this may mean that if you live in an "NFL market" where a team gets all consideration and not 1 play is missed you may not have to miss the end of an exciting finish before Fox or CBS switches to the local  team's broadcast.

For NFL fans who do not have Directv, the network would switch to the kickoff of the 4.15 ballgame and thus denying seeing the end of what might be an exciting finish.

No word yet from the NFL if this means all the "4 oclock" kickoff games would be moved to 4.25. The late afternoon kickoffs have been staggered. Some of the lesser late matchups have started at 4.05 est and the better matchups have kicked off at 4.15. At no point did the NFL discuss starting the early Sunday games sooner then the 1.00 est kickoff start nor should they. The pre-game shows are great for fantasy players or for many who go to church or other family events early Sunday morning or late Sunday mornings.

The pre-game shows are also highly profitable for TV networks. Many now cut away early from the top of the hour anyhow to be as CBS has billed it " 1st on the field".

As a harsh critic of commisioner Roger Goodell I will give praise to the commish if he put any pressure on the networks to push back by 10 minutes the later  afternoon start times. now unless agame a goes in OT for an excessive period fans should be able to catch all the early kickoffs and not miss a play from the later afternoon time slots as well.