Steinberg: NFL schedule release causes excitement
The NFL released its 2015 schedule Tuesday night. The announcement was covered with multiple news outlets paying rapt attention.
The NFL teams have actually known since December which teams they will be playing, but now the NFL released the exact dates of the games. Fans are interested in who their favorite team will be playing, fantasy gamers are already anticipating strategy. The ability of the NFL to create a news event around the schedule release shows their uncanny ability to dominate sports news all year round.
The NFL is not only the most popular sport by far in this country, it is the most popular television entertainment. The seven top-rated Nielsen television shows one month into the football season were NFL night time football.
NFL broadcasts, analysis, games, highlights, features, fantasy, memorabilia, and social media presence illustrate how the NFL has dominated popular culture. Some extremely bright and creative planners at the NFL League office are continuing to create new off-season football news opportunities.
The Super Bowl has a week of non-stop stories running in news, sports, lifestyle and business leading into the game in early February. Then comes the “off-season.”
Feb. 16 is the day for teams to designate franchise or transition players and speculation fills the news for the days prior.
The NFL Scouting Combine is Feb. 17-23 with coverage by an immense press corps and live television.
March 7-9 is the pre-free agency period when agents can talk to teams.
Free agency begins on March 10.
There is immense discussion and coverage of teams and specific players intentions and each signing makes major news.
March 22-25 are the League Meetings, which are covered by a large press corps and generate major news.
April 21 the League schedule is announced.
The NFL Draft now is spread over three days, April 30-May 2.
For weeks before there is daily coverage of individual prospective draftees and team strategies in all major media. The three-day period has a variety of sponsored and media covered events.
For the first time since 1965, the draft will not be held in New York City — it has been moved to Chicago. This will spark new visuals and story lines. The draft itself is filled with player drama and sometimes shocking trades and maneuvers by teams.
Days of heavy analysis of teams and the players they selected follow the end of the draft.
May 8-11 teams can hold post-draft mini-camps, or they can select the next weekend. These are heavily publicized. They are followed quickly by the veteran mini-camps.
The beginning of the Major League Baseball season, the NBA and NHL playoffs may be the major events in this time frame, but the NFL is constantly in the news. The NFL Network finds interesting programming all year long.
By the time that training camps open in late July, early August, they have been preceded by a steady menu of preview stories. The NFL has the longest off-season of any professional sport, so it creates immense anticipation for the beginning of the league season.
When no football is being played, the NFL has found a way to keep football in fan’s consciousness all off-season long.
LEIGH STEINBERG is a renowned sports agent, author, advocate, speaker and humanitarian. Twitter: @steinbergsports.