It’s a tradition truly unlike any other.
With the official schedule release coming tonight, and with the league and its broadcast partners selectively announcing some of the games, there will be leaks as to the others. From various reporters. All day long.
The league won’t like it. They’ll try to get the networks that televise games to tell their reporters to not do it. Some will do it anyway.
It’s no different than tipping first-round draft picks. The information is out there. It’s easily obtained. It’s even more easily disseminated, thanks to instant access to social media.
Getting the draft picks is easy. All teams know the backlog of selections that are waiting to be officially announced. All it takes is one person with one team, and the keys to the kingdom have been secured.
When it comes to the schedule, the information is even more widely available. The team-by-team schedule-release videos aren’t suddenly generated between 8:00 p.m. and 8:01 p.m. ET on the day the schedule is released.
Many within the wall of each organization know the configuration of games. Football operations. Ticketing. In-house media. Social media. By now, the schedule is everywhere.
As a result, the leaks are inevitable. And even though the NFL will prefer that folks tune in to NFL Network and/or NFL.com later today to get the information, much of it will already be out there before the curtain officially falls.
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