How Thrilling the NFL’s 2012 Schedule Release Is

It can be assured that there were many NFL fans glued to the television the other night when the NFL released its 2012 schedule. Everyone wants to know who their favorite NFL team will be playing and when they will be playing them. Needless to say the format that the NFL releases its schedule in caters to that need. Like most fans, I was glued to the television watching to see when my favorite team, the Chicago Bears, would play some of their biggest opponents like the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions. I wanted to know who they played to start the season and how the last five games of the year would shape up. I got all of the information that I wanted that night and was even able to start planning some trips to the Windy City to see some games. The NFL has taken the schedule release process and turned it into something fans love and it’s getting to be one of the biggest events of the NFL offseason. Waiting to release it on their own instead of doing it through the media has paid dividends by making this an event that fans look forward to. It’s definitely paying off. The timing of the schedule release is also something that the NFL thought hard about and this is even something that is very marketable to fans. The schedule release comes about a week before the NFL Draft and gives fans something to look forward to just prior to the start of the draft. It helps to keep fans interested in the league and what’s going on with it. And there are plenty of references to the draft during the release of the schedule so there so there is no way that fans are going to forget that the NFL draft was just a little over a week away at that point. The NFL has been getting better with its marketing over the course of the past few years having impressed many with its ability to turn something as simple as a schedule release into a big event. They have done even more with the NFL Draft recently to turn it into one of the biggest fan events of the season. For example, they moved the draft to primetime weeknight television instead of the weekend time slots that they had previously occupied. This has served to keep fans interested in the draft and draw a lot of attention to the event. By moving the draft’s first round to primetime, the NFL has catered to fans interest and made the draft much more appealing to fans and “fringe” fans alike. So some kudos have to go out to the NFL for their way of handling the NFL schedule and the draft. They have turned two exciting events into something much more exciting and meaningful to the fans.