As the NFL’s schedule master, Howard Katz, told PFT Live on Friday, teams and networks do plenty of lobbying when it comes to configuring the 256 regular-season games.
Sponsors may soon be getting in on the act.
According to Anthony Schoettle of the Indianapolis Business Journal, Lucas Oil CEO Forrest Lucas isn’t thrilled with the lack of prime-time games to be played in the stadium that bears his company’s name. Apart from an October 20 Sunday-nighter against Peyton Manning and the Broncos, the lights at Lucas Oil Stadium won’t be on at night; the other seven home games start at 1:00 p.m. ET.
“I was surprised by the schedule,” Lucas said. “I would have thought after last year, the Colts would be off the bottom of the totem pole and we’d have gotten a few more prime-time home dates. Those prime-time [home] games are huge for us.”
Lucas Oil Co. has paid $121.5 million to have the company’s name attached to the stadium for 20 years.
“I don’t want to complain too much because the Colts and city of Indianapolis have been real, real good to us,” Lucas said. “Those early games kill our exposure on the West Coast.”
We appreciate his concerns, but that’s part of the risk of purchasing the ability to name a stadium. And if exposure on the West Coast is one of the concerns, there are stadiums there, too.