NFL Flexible Scheduling

In 2006 the NFL implemented a primetime "flexible scheduling" element on Sundays in Weeks 10-15 and in Week 17.

Flexible scheduling ensured quality matchups on Sunday night in those weeks and gave surprise teams a chance to play their way onto primetime.

The NFL schedule will again utilize flexible scheduling in Weeks 11-17. The NBC Sunday night time slot for "flex" weeks will list the game tentatively scheduled for Sunday night.

Only Sunday afternoon games are eligible to be moved to Sunday night, in which case the tentatively scheduled Sunday night game will be moved to an afternoon start time. Flexible scheduling will not be applied to games airing on Thursday, Saturday or Monday nights.

Just as the six major college football conferences have done for many years, the NFL will have the flexibility to move the start times of games on Sundays, using a 12-day notice format.

For example, a game scheduled for a Sunday could move from a 1:00 p.m. ET kickoff to an 8:15 p.m. start, but the change would be made and announced no later than the prior Tuesday, 12 days prior.

The NFL has commonly moved games between 1:00 p.m. ET and 4:15 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoons, and the NFL now employs flexible scheduling to include one of its primetime packages of games - on Sunday evenings.

Sunday afternoon games, as in the past, can still be moved between 1:00 and 4:05 or 4:15 p.m. ET.

In Week 17, in order to ensure a Sunday night game with playoff implications, the decision to move the start time may be made on six days notice.