Jason Kelce went off on the NFL schedule during a passionate segment on the New Heights podcast. The ESPN Monday Night Countdown analyst delivered a pointed critique of the league’s ever-expanding calendar footprint.
Jason Kelce takes a dig at current NFL schedule on New Heights
Jason Kelce used his New Heights platform to question the NFL’s expanding calendar. Questions have lingered since the 2026 NFL schedule dropped. This year’s slate marks a clear departure from past seasons.
Tuesday is the only day without a game, leaving the other six days filled with matchups. The surge in standalone games hasn’t gone unnoticed by fans and has prompted pushback from the former Philadelphia Eagles center.
On the May 20 episode of the New Heights podcast, Jason Kelce argued that the NFL’s push into new days, time slots and countries risks diluting the cultural power of Sundays.
“Sunday is the day of football,” Kelce said. “Outside of going to church in the morning, if you’re still religious and do that, Sunday is where so many games happen and and that’s what you grow up and you gear your entire week around watching football on Sunday.”
“It’s an institution at this point, the NFL playing games on Sunday. With every day that we keep adding in there, we’re getting away from that just a little bit. And I worry that I think the game got big. One of the reasons it got so popular and big was because all of the games, it was an event. Sunday is the NFL and everybody set their week apart to tune in to their games that were happening on Sunday and you’re watching kind of all of them.”
The NFL’s packed schedule has drawn arguments from fans, players, and media alike. Ultimately, metrics like ratings, injuries, and revenue will determine which side of the debate holds up. The NFL is shaking up tradition in 2026, kicking off the season on Wednesday, September 9. That Thursday game heads to Australia instead, featuring an NFC West matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers.
