The first Black Friday game in the history of the league is this week. The day-after-Thanksgiving game will be between AFC East rivals in the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins, but it was a different team who asked to be featured in the game.
According to Mike North, the NFL's vice president of broadcast planning, the Cincinnati Bengals volunteered to play on Black Friday every year and were hoping to make it an NFL tradition -- the same way the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions always play at home on Thanksgiving.
"The Cincinnati Bengals raised their hand, they put their hand up and said we're interested in Black Friday not just in 2023, but how about as a tradition. We play in Dallas and Detroit on Thanksgiving every year, how about playing in Cincinnati on Black Friday every year?" North said, via Mad Dog Sports Radio.
The NFL did consider a game between the Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers, which would have been an AFC North showdown, but ended up going in a different direction based on the location of the teams. Since New York is the No. 1 retail market in the country, Amazon noted it would make sense to have a game involving one of the New York teams on a day that is all about shopping.
After the Jets were chosen for the Black Friday game, they also began thinking of making it a new New York tradition.
"The Jets, once they found out they were the host team, then started to think about, 'Hey, is this something we could make a permanent fixture as part of the NFL schedule?'" North said, via ESPN. "Maybe they didn't raise their hands in February, but now that they have been selected as the Black Friday host, I think they might be interested in it, too."
As it currently stands, the league is not asking for one team to be married to the Black Friday game, but things could change after the game is played this year.
"I don't think we were looking for this season to commit to a permanent home for Black Friday," North said. "Let's play one first and let's see what we learn and let's see what makes sense and let's see if it works for our fans, I don't think we were looking on day one to deploy this with a permanent home."
"But it's certainly something we should talk about," North continued. "Let's see what happens this year, let's see what the fan reaction is to that day, and I'm sure we'll go back to ownership, we'll go back to membership and we'll talk about would we be interested in it. Is that a good idea for the NFL? I'm sure there's pros and cons to both."
This offseason, the Jets signed Aaron Rodgers and North said with the future Hall of Fame becoming the quarterback of the Jets, this felt like the right opportunity to showcase the team. This did not pan out as expected, of course, as the QB is out with an Achilles injury suffered just four plays into the season. Instead it will be Zach Wilson leading the Jets offense.
The AFC East is a tight race, so this still should be a fun game to watch on the holiday weekend.
The matchup was also a way to keep the divisional games from the day before going. Thanksgiving will feature three divisional games: Packers at Lions, Commanders at Cowboys and 49ers at Seahawks.
"A divisional rival Miami Dolphins on Black Friday kind of culminates the end of the Thanksgiving Day," North said. "We have three division games on Thursday … and kind of keep it going with Jets-Dolphins on Black Friday."
This will mark the first meeting between the Jets and Dolphins this season, their second matchup will be on Dec. 17.
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North said they looked into the Giants when discussing having the game in New York. They felt like they could "make this something special" if they featured a New York team and were even discussing getting talent involved in the Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City on Thursday.
North also joked that he had his own idea for the day, but it did not end up being the favorite choice.
Saying they looked into a Raiders game, North laid out his plan: "I for one thought it would be funny, Black Friday in the Black Hole. The marketing team didn't agree with me, but that's OK."
"We had a lot of options, we really did," North explained, but in the end it was Jets-Dolphins with the most appeal, even if that appeal has dwindled a bit now that the star quarterback is out.
