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Creating the is a complicated proce s that requires tens of thousands of computers coming up with countle s po sibilities over a proce s that lasts about four months.There are several competing factors at play, from keeping all of the television partners happy, to competitive balance for teams, to stadium availability.One variable that wasn't considered, despite some wild internet conjecture, was making sure and the had a game scheduled close in location to one of the tour spots for Taylor Swift. Inside <a href="https://www.bearsglintshop.com/Charles-Leno-Jersey">Charles Leno Jersey</a> the NFL schedule puzzle: Byes, Christmas overseas trips and Taylor Swift ADVERTISEMENT "I saw a lot of conspiracy theorists talking about Kansas City at middle of the season, right when Taylor's playing Toronto," Mike North, the NFL's vice president for broadcast planning, said Thursday. "That one definitely did not hit our radar screen."The Chiefs have emerged in recent years as one of the NFL's top television draws thanks to quarterback leading them to three Super Bowl titles in the past five seasons, and increased even more last season when Swift attended several games to watch her boyfriend, Kelce.That led to doling out Kansas City games to each of the NFL's major television partners. CBS got at least seven of the games in the schedule released Wednesday as the traditional home of Sunday afternoon AFC games with the Week 18 game still available. NBC also got four games in prime time, including the Thursday night opener against , a pair of Sunday night games and a Saturday night game in Week 16.The Chiefs are playing that Saturday because they were also selected to play the following Wednesday on Christmas on Netflix against .Kansas City is also playing in the second annual Black Friday game on Amazon Prime Video the day after Thanksgiving and will have perhaps its in a Super Bowl rematch against in Week 7."They're Cowboys-level a sets right now," North said. "Knowing that everybody's going to get a certain number of them. ... Was it perfect? Was everybody over the moon? Maybe not. Maybe FOX was. But it's <a href="https://www.bearsglintshop.com/Bobby-Massie-Jersey">Bobby Massie Jersey</a> a narrow needle to thread."The proce s of <a href="https://www.bearsglintshop.com/Buster-Skrine-Jersey">Buster Skrine Jersey</a> building the schedule began as soon as the 2023 season ended and the opponents for each team and the location of each game were locked into place.The league has evolved from building the schedule by hand to using a few computers to the current cloud computing model that spits out more po sible schedules than any human can sift through.The final version came out early last Sunday morning and was given final approval by commi sioner Roger Goodell on Monday."It's an incredibly challenging puzzle," said Hans Schroeder, the league's executive vice president of media distribution. "You're thinking about competitive equality, how we solve for all our media partners, team elements, travel, how we solve for more windows on more continents as we play more. But most importantly, how do we create the best schedule for our fans? If there was ever sort of a needle in a haystack-type project, this is it."The schedule makers have been given more flexibility in recent years with teams not required to play a prime-time game, teams able to play multiple short-week Thursday games and a loosening of TV rules that allow some traditional NFC games to be aired on CBS and AFC games to go to FOX on Sunday afternoons.This allowed the league to give CBS its first game between NFC East rivals and <a href="https://www.bearsglintshop.com/Chicago-Bears-Jersey">Show All Chicago Bears Jersey</a> in Week 10 since the 1993 season before the network lost the NFC rights to FOX.Prime-time games ranged from a high of six for San Francisco, the and Dallas to none for , and just one for , , , and ."From a scheduling perspective, teams play their way into prime (time)," Schroeder said. "They play their way into bigger windows."The and (five prime-time games) were the only teams that got at least five prime-time games that mi sed the playoffs last season, but the expected returns to health for QBs and made them attractive candidates.New York is scheduled for six prime-time games in the first 11 weeks, with another early morning national window for a game in London against in Week 5."That's an awful lot of prime-time games early in the season. But obviously, I feel like the Jets kind of owe us one," North said. "When we had this conversation a year ago, we were all, all of us, all-in on the Jets. For that guy to last for only four plays was disheartening for many of us. ... Certainly our broadcast partners, when they came to us early in the proce s, talking about what storylines to focus on early in the season, obviously, Aaron Rodgers' return was a key <a href="https://www.bearsglintshop.com/Akiem-Hicks-Jersey">Akiem Hicks Jersey</a> one for everybody."Reporting by The A sociated Pre s. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox?Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily. Read more:2024 Kansas City Chiefs schedule, season prediction, early breakdown2024 NFL division predictions: Winners for each AFC and NFC division FOLLOW Follow your favorites to personalize your FOX Sports experience National Football League Kansas City Chiefs |
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