The Pittsburgh Steelers versus Baltimore Ravens Week 11 Sunday 1 PM/EST game officially won’t be flexed to primetime viewing. The NFL announced the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Chargers has been moved to the primetime, SNF window with the Indianapolis Colts versus New York Jets being bumped out.
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— Brian McCarthy (@NFLprguy) November 4, 2024
Given the close AFC North race, some wondered if the Steelers-Ravens game could get pushed to primetime television. A great rivalry, two teams having strong seasons, it would’ve brought in ratings. Likely, that would’ve been the NFL’s preference. But a change in rules nixed the opportunity.
It appears under the new free-for-all format where teams can appear on any channel instead of the traditional “AFC plays on CBS, NBC on FOX” model, there are still restrictions. One of which is CBS is guaranteed one divisional game each season. Because the Steelers and Ravens Week 16 rematch is on FOX, CBS has to keep the Week 11 game on its channel. Meaning, it couldn’t be flexed to NBC for Sunday Night Football.
“In the case of Dallas-Philly, in the new contract, we’re guaranteed one end of every divisional home and home,” FOX Sports EVP Mike Mulvihill told The Athletic in 2023. “So we think a little bit differently about Dallas-Philly than we think about Dallas-Buffalo, where we only have one opportunity to get that matchup, so we ranked Dallas-Buffalo a little more highly. Those are two super, super, high-priority games for us.”
In reality, there was no chance of the NFL actually being able to flex the game. The same will apply for the Steelers-Ravens Week 16 game, one firmly in FOX’s corner.
Currently, the post-bye portion of the Steelers’ schedule features just one primetime game, their Week 12 Thursday night matchup against the Cleveland Browns. But the rest of the way has its quirks. They’ll play a Saturday 4:30 PM/EST game in that aforementioned contest against the Ravens before appearing on Christmas Day, a 1 PM/EST Wednesday matchup versus the Kansas City Chiefs. The Steelers are coming off a stretch in which they played three of their last four contests in primetime, winning two of them.
