Welcome to the seventh installment of a weekly mailbag that I will be writing about the world of sports media (and anything else you want to chime in on). Please email me any questions you have to Jimmy.Traina@si.com or send them via Twitter.
Lots of questions this week about the 2023 NFL television schedule, which will be announced this Thursday.
Since everything NFL-wise seems to be broadcasted, do you think the NFL will ever televise the selection process that determines what games are broadcasted on FOX and CBS? How many viewers would that get?
— Nick (@NickCocco18) May 9, 2023
This is a fantastic idea, and if the NFL ever decided to do this, people would definitely watch. If it was a live show, I’d bet a few million people would tune it. If it was taped and edited, I think it would get a couple million viewers depending on when and where it aired. I do think we could one say see some sort of documentary-style show on how the NFL puts together a schedule for an upcoming season.
What matchups do you think networks fought for the most in the NFL Schedule?
— Isles Mets Jets fan (@bigjimfan) May 9, 2023
Aaron Rodgers’s first game as a New York Jet is probably at the top of the list. Five other 2023 games that every network probably wanted to claim:
Jets at Cowboys
Bengals at Chiefs
Eagles at Chiefs
Niners at Eagles
Eagles at Jets
Two parter (if possible): which team will end up being on prime time too much? You’re in charge of the schedule this year - what’s your three Thanksgiving games and Black Friday matchup?
— Mike Pellegrini (@MPellegrini13) May 8, 2023
The team that will be in prime time too much will be the Raiders. Las Vegas has national appeal and usually draws decent ratings. There will be interest in the Raiders this year because people will want to see how Jimmy G performs.
But the reality is, the Raiders are never good. They’ve had one winning season in the past six years and two in the past 20 seasons. One prime-time Raiders game would be plenty.
As for the second part of the question, here’s who the Lions will play in their eight home games this season: Raiders, Seahawks, Broncos, Panthers, Falcons, Vikings, Packers, Bears.
I’d be happy with Raiders-Lions or Packers-Lions on Thanksgiving.
The Cowboys’ 2023 home games: Commanders, Giants, Eagles, Rams, Patriots, Seahawks, Jets, Lions.
The NFL can’t go wrong here unless they pit the Cowboys against the Rams or Seahawks, but that might be just what the league does, because no matter who they slot in this game to play the Cowboys, it will be the highest- or second-highest rated game of the season.
I don’t really have a pick for the Thanksgiving night game. I’ll watch any game, but I would like it to be a division game.
Why do you think the NBA has not copied the Manningcast style broadcast to pair with the playoffs on TNT?
— Leon Ollison 🏈 (@leo7221978) May 9, 2023
Couple of reasons. The biggest being that basketball isn’t really a fit for a ManningCast. There is no downtime. There is constant action in basketball. In the NFL, you have about 30 seconds in between plays to chat, tell stories and offer strategy. Speaking of strategy, there is also way less strategy involved in a basketball game than a football game. There is strategy on almost every play in an NFL game. Should you pass? Should you run? Should you blitz? Should you go for it? Etc. Outside of maybe some defensive matchup stuff, strategy doesn’t really come into play in an NBA game until the final two minutes. The NFL is the perfect companion to a ManningCast.
What did you make of the Mike Coppinger tweet about AEW All In's only being mapped out for 40,000 and doing a mea cupla about it when proved wrong?
— Peter Edge (@PeterEdge7) May 9, 2023
I think everyone in this business makes mistakes. The question is, was this an honest mistake or was there an agenda behind the tweet? I don't know enough about it to know the truth, but obviously, AEW's Tony Khan thought there was an agenda at play here.
Why doesn’t ESPN save millions of dollars (and therefore retain hundreds of behind-the-scenes workers) by simply trimming the 85 extra people on their pregame shows?
— Kyle Speicher 🇺🇸 (@TVKyle) May 9, 2023
I don’t ever want to advocate for fewer jobs in sports media or for people to lose their jobs. Having said that, I’ve never understood why there are nine million people on every NFL pregame show.
Where do you see McAfee show going?
— x- Suffering JIM (@JIMfan523) May 9, 2023
Andrew Marchand reported Tuesday that it’s going to be ESPN for McAfee, which isn’t surprising since McAfee recently tweeted a photo of himself visiting with ESPN/Disney head honcho Bob Iger. I think there's a chance we'll hear from McAfee himself on SI Media With Jimmy Traina once the deal is officially announced.
If NBC gets the nba again, do you see Marv and the czar coming back to call games?
— Patrick Webb (@webb_02) May 8, 2023
There is a zero percent chance this will happen. Marv is 81 years old, and his performance has finally started to decline a little bit over his last year or two when he was TNT’s lead voice.
While Mike Fratello is great, NBC will be looking for a much bigger name as its lead NBA analyst.
Is Tiki Barber now officially the best listen in NY sports radio?
— Dylan McKay (@dylanmckayy702) May 9, 2023
I don’t listen to Tiki Barber’s show so I can’t really answer this, but loyal SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast listeners know that Sal Licata is the best listen in New York. I’m also a fan of WFAN’s Boomer and Gio.
What do you have against hockey?
— Neil Best (@sportswatch) May 9, 2023
I don’t have anything against hockey. I just don’t follow the NHL, the same way I don’t follow NASCAR or UFC. And I don’t write about hockey because I see Sports Illustrated’s traffic reports and I know what people will click on and what people won’t click on.
None sports since you shared last week The Sopranos episode we still talk about all these years later. Who had the better one-liners on The Sopranos, Tony, Paulie Walnuts, Uncle Junior or Silvio?
— Christopher Vancheri (@CVancheri) May 9, 2023
Uncle Junior, and it’s not even close. Junior watching Curb Your Enthusiasm and thinking Larry and Jeff were him and Bobby is as funny as anything that was ever on The Sopranos.
A couple of email questions:
Hey, Jimmy. Do you know if the televised games on our local CBS/Fox channels will be streamed on YouTube’s Sunday ticket or will they be blacked out and we are forced to switch over to traditional TV to watch those games? Thanks —Eric
The NFL's blackout rules have not changed with Sunday Ticket going from DirecTV to YouTube. You will still need to get your local CBS and Fox affiliates to watch the local game airing in your market.
This is an extremely kind and flattering email. And I love hearing from readers who go way back with me to the Hot Clicks days more than anything, However, I’m not sure I appreciate Tyler wanting me to get canceled, because the Lovely Lady of the Day would not fly for one split second today. The last ever Lovely Lady of the Day ever, before I briefly (and mistakenly) left SI for Fox was Friday Night Lights’ Minka Kelly, and it was the perfect end to the LLOD feature.
