The NFL considered more than 26,000 factors when building their 2024 regular-season schedule.
Competitive fairness, prime-time allocation, stadium availability and more dictated what ultimately became the chosen combination of more than a quadrillion options, per league data.
“It’s an incredibly challenging puzzle,” NFL executive vice president and chief operating officer Hans Schroeder said. “You’re thinking about competitive equality, how we solve for all our media partners, team elements, travel, how we solve for more windows and more continents as we play more.
“Most importantly, how do we create the best schedule for our fans?”
And yet, those 26,000-plus factors did not include a data point that the power fan base of Taylor Swift identified quickly.
The NFL insists it did not factor in the proximity of the superstar’s concerts to the Kansas City Chiefs’ games featuring her boyfriend, Travis Kelce.
Beyond actual stadium conflicts, the NFL said Swift was not included in its coding.
“We certainly considered the tour dates that hit NFL stadiums,” league vice president of broadcast planning Mike North said Thursday on a conference call with reporters. “I think she’s in Miami, maybe New Orleans, Indy. We certainly considered those. One thing we didn’t consider: I saw a lot of conspiracy theorists talking about Kansas City at Buffalo, middle of the season, right when Taylor’s playing Toronto?
“That one definitely did not hit our radar screen.”
The Bills host the Chiefs at 4:25 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 17 at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York.
Swift is scheduled to perform six concerts in Toronto, on Nov. 14, 15 and 16 before the Buffalo game and again on Nov. 21, 22 and 23 afterward.
The Bills’ stadium is 111 miles by road from the Rogers Centre arena at which Swift will perform.
Between Swift’s allure and the Chiefs’ immense success, the franchise riding a two-Super Bowl title streak drew great interest from broadcast partners, league executives said.
“As far as doling out the Chiefs games, look — they’re Cowboys-level assets right now,” North said.
