Detroit Lions Schedule To Include Multiple Prime Time Games In 2023

Before we get into the source report for the 2023 schedule, lets recap what happened in 2022.

Lions Duped In 2022 Without Prime Time Slots

Many fans and even media members were steaming with excitement leading up to the regular season. Especially after the HBO Hard Knocks special pumped the infamous Kool-Aid into the hearts and minds of Lions fans and followers around the world. The ether was at an all time high, and it only made sense to see this team on the big stage, right?
Wrong, when the schedule was released in May of 2022, many were shocked that the NFL duped Lions fans and the team by not allowing a single prime time slot on the Lions schedule. Maybe for good reason, as the Lions had a very rough 2021 performance. The NFL just did not have the confidence in the Lions to put a good product on the field.

Lions Hold Consistency In 2022 Schedule / Stay Close To Home

The second shocker was realized when the Lions did not have one game after the 1pm time slot. The only other gametime would be the 12:30 slot for Thanksgiving. There were no games on Detroit’s 2022 schedule in the Pacific Time Zone, as the team was not scheduled to be out West.

Dan Campbell was not worried, in fact he was the exact opposite, and thought the 1pm slot the entire season was awesome. Dan had this to say on the Pro Football Focus Network.

“It’s awesome,” Campbell said about having no prime-time appearances, “One o’clock games. It’s awesome. One o’clock. You knock them out, you go home, you get ready for the next opponent. You’re not waiting all day in the hotel, all night. Then you go up, now you’re on a short week, it feels like. So I’ve got no problem. And by the way, you can get flexed, [Week] 5 to 15. So who says we can’t get flexed?”

Although the Lions did not have the luxury of playing in any prime time games in 2022. They did enjoy the second shortest travel distance of any team in the league. In total, Detroit traveled 8,348 miles and across eight time zones. Playing 3 of their final 4 games on the road to close out the season.

Rod Wood | Has Contact With The NFL Over The Lions 2023 Schedule

The Lions have seven games against 2022 playoff teams, and one with the Super Bowl champs; Chief’s, Vikings(2), Ravens, Chargers, Bucs, Seahawks, and the Cowboys. This schedule has the potential to be one of the most challenging schedules in the league, on paper at least.

Rod Wood spoke to a small group of local reporters at the Annual League Meetings in 2023. Where he said the team only had eight home games slotted in 2023. This is due to the rotation between the NFC and AFC crossover every other year.

Wood put in a few schedule request options from the NFL for 2023. First, a road game to start the year, potentially leading to more home games in the second half of the season. Second, a home, away, home preseason schedule. Third, for the Lions to host the New York Giants for joint practices ahead of the Week 1 preseason game vs the Giants.

When speaking with the media, Wood had a few more remarks about the potential for prime time games.

“Certainly I think we’ll be on more than just Thanksgiving. I don’t know how many more,” Wood stated. “There’s going to be more opportunity for primetime games too because there’s going to be three simulcast games on Monday Night Football with ABC and ESPN, so that’s two more. There’s going to be the Amazon game the day after Thanksgiving which obviously we wouldn’t play, but it creates another primetime game for another team. I think that there’s more inventory which should enhance our opportunity as well as just the outlook for the team. Talking to Howard Katz a little bit, I suspect that we’re going to get a number. I just don’t know if it’ll be the max or not.”

Per Source | The Lions Are Reported To Play In 3 Prime Time Games

According to ESPN.com, the NFL is targeting Thursday, May 11 to release the full schedule. The 2023 release will mark the fourth straight year that the schedule has come out in May. Per a confidential source, a portion of the NFL schedule may have been shared and subsequently leaked.

Based on the conversation, the Lions should be appearing in two Sunday Night games, and one Monday Night game in 2023. One game with an AFC west team. The Chiefs are said to be slotted as the matchup for a Sunday or Monday Night option. With the Bears vs Chiefs overseas schedule leaked, reportedly in Germany, I am not confident that the NFL is going to have 2 prime time NFC North games with the Chief’s.

The 2nd & 3rd games are to include teams from the NFC North & AFC North. The likely teams here are the Packers and Ravens. I could see this happening and welcome it, as I want to see Goff destroy the Ravens this season and continue the Packers trend of losing.

The other interesting tidbit was that the Lions may finally have a later bye week this season. For whatever reason, the Lions seem to get stuck with an early bye week every season. This is more important than any prime games in my opinion. Getting some rest for key players, and addressing injuries are critical needs before the final push of the regular season. A later bye week helps out in this scenario.

The NFL’s Thanksgiving Day games have traditionally included one game hosted by the Detroit Lions since 1934, and one game hosted by the Dallas Cowboys since 1966. The Lions will still host the early slot on Thanksgiving, as they have for decades.

Should the NFL consider more or less Prime games is certainly possible, but the likely scenario is the use of flex game options. Networks can switch out two games between the 5th and 10th weeks of the season, and two more times between the 11th and final week of the season. Games can be flexed from their 1 p.m. or 4:30 p.m. start times to primetime. With the additional prime time games this season, the Lions organization and fans should enjoy plenty of coverage.

Why The Change Of Heart By The NFL?

The Lions catapulted to fame last season as one of the hottest teams in the NFL during the 2022 season. This included tracking the top trending online searches, social media, media coverage, merchandise sales and sold out venues. The Lions cracked the top 10 most watched broadcasts in 2022. Where 31.8 million people tuned in to the Thanksgiving day game. Compared to 2021’s performance of all NFL games this would have ranked 2nd.

Coming from where the Lions were in terms of national popularity, one thing is for certain. The NFL is not ignorant to these facts, by capitalizing on the meteoric rise of the Lions brand, and at the right time, is a sure bet to increase revenue should the Lions repeat 2022’s 2nd half surge to start the season.