NFL Schedule makers make this harder than it needs to be...

Season should open and close with divisional games, alternating and progressing home-away-home then away-home-away...

Conference games should be split following and preceding the division games...

Inter-conference games should be in the middle of the season...

If the league is worried about some of its favored teams traveling cross-country, it could slide the BYE games in for relief...

I watched a special on the making of the schedule. They run millions of iterations of the schedule before coming down to the final version which is then presented to Goodell for final signoff. It uses a list of rules which attempts to eliminate scheduling discrepancies as much as is possible. Each iteration is given a generated grade based upon compliance to the "rules". These rules mark down for multi-game road trips, etc. They also grade up matchups in certain time slots. It has to take into consideration events already scheduled in advance for the venues, network affiliation availability, etc. It was extremely interesting, but also clearly showed that there is no possibility of individual bias, especially on the part of Goodell. His input only involves the approval of rules, which have pretty much been the same since well before it all went completely computer driven, and the final signoff on the single schedule finally placed before him.

Unfortunately, your scenarios, while desirable even in the scheduling team's plans, are skewered by all of the outside factors concerning the venues and broadcast requirements. Events booked years in advance for the day before, during, and after game dates take precedent. Some teams are going to have back-to-back-to-back road games. There's no way around it. Or back-to-back opposite coast games. Although, the rules flag those teams to help avoid the same sort of scheduling "bad breaks" over the next couple of years.

This is all done via simulations and the team simply compares grades and then goes over the entire schedule generated of those with the very highest grades to see if any will make the final cuts.

Or that is all a smokescreen that they can tell the public to present a fair front when in reality Gotohell picks the schedule that screws the teams he wants to screw, like the Saints, the most. Sort of like when the NBA did their own internal investigation of the point shaving Ref and announced he was the only culprit.

LOL! Nope. Not a smokescreen at all. The special covered the whole process for the entire offseason the day they knew all the matchups. It followed the procedure daily as a documentary.

Here's the actual video. It is about 22 minutes long. It is well worth the watch.

https://www.facebook.com/NFL/videos/308752617366751

BostonSaint is not questioning you, AG - he's saying it's a Wizard of Oz, Smoke and Mirrors show just so they can lean into the schedule to manipulate certain outcomes...

I know he's not questioning me, JP. I certainly don't think he's delusional as others that think the schedule is manipulated for certain outcomes. It is difficult enough with ONE BILLION possibilities to even come out with something that works on the most basic level without dreaming of ways to manipulate something that doesn't even have rosters in place yet. I know Boston isn't that shallow. LOL! I am well aware he was making light of it.

Anyone out there that even vaguely believes outcome manipulation is involved needs to watch the documentary. Or stop believing in fairly tales.

Am looking for investors to purchase the GNO bridge...

Anyone out there that even vaguely believes outcome manipulation is involved needs to watch the documentary. Or stop believing in fairly tales.

Yeah, because the league is totally free of that type of scandal. After all, It’s not like the league would say, possibly blow a big call late in a game that would have allowed a big market team to make it to the SB over a small market team or unduly punish a team and players for made-up bounty infractions or anything like that! Only a lunatic would even remotely consider the possibility that this league, lead by a high moral character like Roger G, could ever do anything questionable like that.

I cannot argue against those possibilities. They are extremely unlikely, but possible in the scheme of things. However, the process used in the generation of the schedule precludes any possibility of manipulating outcomes. Did you watch the video on the process involved that I posted? It's really interesting.