Ravens fans no longer have to worry about whether to use their tickets to a competitive AFC matchup at M&T Bank Stadium or attend their original New Year\u2019s Eve plans.
An NFL spokesperson confirmed to The Banner on Thursday that the league has decided not to flex any of the Week 17 games, which means the Ravens will host the Miami Dolphins at 1 p.m., as scheduled.
The schedule was in question because the Ravens and Dolphins are the two top teams in the conference, and the battle will likely have major playoff implications.
Late in the season, the NFL can use \u201cflexible scheduling\u201d at its discretion to ensure<\/a> \u201cquality matchups on Sunday night in all weeks and gave surprise teams a chance to play their way onto primetime.\u201d This year, the league expanded flex scheduling to include \u201cThursday Night Football\u201d and \u201cMonday Night Football.\u201d
The Sunday game kicking off at 4:25 p.m. on CBS, which was seen as another potential window for the Ravens-Dolphins game, is also an important AFC matchup. The Kansas City Chiefs, who are third in the conference, will play the Cincinnati Bengals, who are in sixth. The Bengals only have a 34% chance of making playoffs, according to The New York Times\u2019 playoff picture<\/a>, but they\u2019re not completely out of the race.
Austin Karp, an editor at the Sports Business Journal who monitors industry ratings, said in an interview that despite the potential stakes of a Ravens-Dolphins matchup, \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone wants to give up the Chiefs, because they\u2019re just a dominant pull this season.\u201d
He added: \u201cSay what you want about Taylor Swift, but people were watching the Chiefs beforehand, and now it\u2019s just totally ridiculous. … Do I think it\u2019s, like, a significant uptick? No, but I just think that there is intrigue around [Travis] Kelce and the Chiefs and, \u2018Oh, is she going to be there?\u2019 There\u2019s something to it.\u201d
Karp also pointed to CBS\u2019 rare lead over Fox in the battle for late-afternoon NFL ratings: \u201cCBS never beats Fox, and they\u2019ve been able to really latch on to some of these Dolphins and Chiefs numbers, in particular. And they\u2019re leading right now.\u201d
While next weekend\u2019s \u201cSunday Night Football\u201d game between the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers, two playoff hopefuls, will have much less meaning for the league, the Packers have a large fan base and deliver strong ratings.
Had the Ravens\u2019 game been moved to 8:20 p.m. for \u201cSunday Night Football,\u201d kickoff would have been right around the start of New Year\u2019s Eve festivities at the Inner Harbor, and the evening-ending fireworks and drone show would have potentially overlapped with thousands leaving M&T Bank Stadium.
The Ravens played their most recent game, a road win over the Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a>, on \u201cSunday Night Football.\u201d The game ended at 11:25 p.m.
Mayor Brandon Scott was not concerned<\/a>.
\u201cI\u2019ve told any and everybody that we want it on (\u2019Sunday Night Football\u2019 on NBC) because that\u2019s where it belongs!\u201d Scott posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday, dismissing a claim city officials had asked for the game to remain in the afternoon due to \u201csafety concerns.\u201d \u201cWhile they\u2019re at it, they can go ahead flex the final game against (Pittsburgh) too. We want the smoke!\u201d
None of that is a concern now, since the game will start at 1 p.m., as originally planned.
Ravens beat reporter Jonas Shaffer contributed to this story.<\/i>
Giana Han<\/a>
giana.han@thebaltimorebanner.com<\/a>
Giana Han is a Ravens beat reporter from Howard County.\u00a0
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The Baltimore Banner may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. See our Cookie Policy<\/a>, RSS Terms of Service<\/a>, Submissions Policy<\/a>, Ad Choices<\/a>, Do Not Sell My Personal Information<\/a>, and CA Notice at Collection at Privacy Notice<\/a>.
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The Baltimore Banner is a trademark registered in the U.S. for The Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Click here to learn more about supporting local journalism.<\/a> <\/p>\n