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‘Thursday Night Football’ will stay in play

Will the NFL scrap “Thursday Night Football”?

No.

The reason?

Money.

Distributors pay NFL Network $1.39 a subscriber per month, a price based on eight exclusive regular-season NFL games. If those games go away, NFL Network’s price drops considerably. Right now, only four channels make more than NFL Network, according to SNL Kagan: ESPN ($7.24), TNT ($1.82), Disney Channel ($1.42) and Fox News ($1.41).

The league could do away with the full-season schedule, leaving only eight games for the NFL Network. But it will be hard to persuade the league’s owners to give up the $450 million that CBS and NBC pay each year for the Thursday night package.

The fact that it’s even being considered demonstrates how the NFL is putting everything on the table as it tries to stem this season’s ratings drop.

— John Ourand


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