With the lockout four days old and no guarantee that it will be lifted on or after April 6, we’ve gotten plenty of questions regarding whether the schedule will be released at its normal time.
Says NFL spokesman Greg Aiello via e-mail, “The plan is to release the schedule as we normally do in mid-April. An announcement date has not been set.”
Last year, the league released the 2010 schedule during the week of the draft. In past years, the schedule was released earlier in the month.
And if there already isn’t enough pressure on the two sides to get a deal done, the announcement of the slate of games to be played on the first Sunday of the season — which also will be the 10th anniversary of 9/11 — will turn things up a notch, especially if the day is capped by, for example, the Giants vs. the Jets at the New Meadowlands Stadium.