NFL Steamrolling News Cycle Again -- This Time With Schedule Leaks, Announcements

The NFL's 2024 regular-season kickoff game, always a celebration of the previous year featuring the defending Super Bowl champion versus a strong challenger for the new season, will match the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens this year.

The league announced Monday morning the two teams will begin the season on Thursday, Sept. 5 in Kansas City.

MVP Vs. MVP In NFL Opener

So, yes, Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes versus Baltimore's Lamar Jackson as the quarterback matchup of regular-season MVP versus Super Bowl MVP. And, of course, this is also a rematch of the AFC championship game last season in Baltimore.

The Chiefs won that title game 17-10 on Jan. 28.

The Chiefs don't get off to an easy start next season. Their second game of the season is another AFC title game rematch, this one against the Cincinnati Bengals in a 2022-23 season rematch in Week 2.

The first Monday Night game of the season will be the Jets at the 49ers on Sept. 9.

And, why, you may be wondering, are you reading a story about the NFL's first regular-season game, which is nearly four months in the future?

Because it's the NFL, of course.

And the NFL has an undeniable ability to turn anything into a news event. Dominating the news cycle is what the NFL does even when games are fading in the rear-view mirror or way off in the distance.

Yes, the start of the regular season is a big deal. But the games the league will play that first week and then throughout the season are notable, too. So let's have a news event:

This event is the annual announcement of the NFL schedule, which we are going to celebrate this week because it's the NFL.

KANSAS CITY, MO - JANUARY 13: A general view of a Chiefs Kingdom Travis Kelce sign outside of GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium before an AFC Wild Card playoff game between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs on Jan 13, 2024 in Kansas City, MO. (Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Lots Of Chiefs On TV In 2024

The league will announce it's full schedule on Wednesday. 

And unlike most sports leagues that throw out a press release to tell everyone where they need to pay attention in a few months, the NFL is going to have a television program do the honors.

And it will give us a proper lead-in to the full-on release by leaking individual games on specific dates.

The league, for example, has already told us that on Sept. 6th it will play it's first-ever game in São Paulo, Brazil (don't you love the squiggly thing atop the a? Yeah, Portuguese). 

That Friday night game will match the Philadelphia Eagles versus the Green Bay Packers.

So we already know when the first two of 272 games will be played.

EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - SEPTEMBER 11: Aaron Rodgers #8 of the New York Jets runs onto the field with an American flag during player introductions prior to an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills at MetLife Stadium on September 11, 2023 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Ryan Kang/Getty Images)

NFL Schedule Announced Wednesday

The 2024 NFL schedule will include nine playoff rematches from the 2023 season. And you can bet the reigning Super Bowl champions will be on prime time and special dates a lot.

The Chiefs this season will play a Super Bowl rematch against the 49ers.

The Chiefs will play the Bills for another chance to rip Josh Allen's heart out.

And, not to be remiss about conference game rematches, the 49ers play a NFC championship game rematch against the Detroit Lions.

This year's NFL schedule will also include the now traditional Thanksgiving Day feast of games throughout the day. But we're also getting a Christmas Week banquet of games as well.

The NFL will play on Christmas Day, which falls on a Wednesday. Then we'll get the NFL on Dec. 26 because that will offer the Thursday night game.

By the way, when the NFL claims a day to play a game, that day thus belongs to the NFL. It's a rule. 

Dec 17, 2023; Jacksonville, Florida, USA;  fans watch with a Merry Christmas sign during a game between the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars in the third quarter at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

NFL Domination Of Christmas

America's steamroller league for years stayed away from Christmas Day games that didn't fall on Sundays because, well, the NFL took Sunday away from the church decades ago and other folks can have other days.

The NBA then claimed Christmas Day as its own for watching nationally telecast games. But someone at the NFL decided last year, let's grab that for ourselves, too.

So the NFL played on Christmas last year. In fact, the NFL played on Dec. 23rd, 24th and 25th last year. That was the NFL taking over Christmas week, including a triple-header in our stockings.

King Sport predictably blew away the NBA in ratings on Christmas and, you guessed it, now it owns Christmas. And Christmas Week.

So there will be two NFL games this Christmas Day. Even though the holiday falls on a freaking Wednesday. This means the NFL will henceforth own Wednesday, too. 

And as to owning the week, the NFL will play on Dec. 25th, 26th, 28th, 29th and 30th.

The NFL is like a kid watching a Christmas pie come out of the oven and getting sliced up. The kid proclaims this over each slice: Mine, mine, mine, mine.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell brings up local music artist Eminem and some Detroit Lions on the main theater stage on Thursday, April 25, 2024 for the first day of the NFL Draft in Detroit.

NFL Turns Everything Into An Event

What does all this say about the NFL?

It says the league is able to turn the most mundane things into events.

Yes, the regular-season is a huge deal when it begins in September. But the promise and announcement of the games to be played in the form of a schedule announcement is a big deal in May.

The draft is a big deal in April even though it's basically everyone watching names being read aloud. 

But the run-up to the draft has become a full-on season onto itself. So the NFL scouting combine is big in late February and early March and runs through the actual draft in April.

And don't forget free agency, which is a huge deal in mid-March. That leads to the NFL annual meeting that often includes big news and rules changes, such as the changing of the kickoff for this season.

Next month we'll see mandatory minicamps join the news cycle.

Then July will be about Independence Day in our great land … And the opening of NFL training camps, of course.

Because the NFL does. Not. Stop.