Steelers Fans Won't Have To Wait For 2023 Schedule As NFL Announces It Will Release As Planned

Pittsburgh Steelers fans have had months to familiarize themselves with the opponents on the schedule for 2023 and make their best guesses as to how the team will perform based on who they're going up against. The biggest question that remains for fans, especially ones trying to see their teams live, is when the actual schedule is coming out. In 2022, the league had the full calendar of games released live on NFL Network on May 12 for all the football-crazed fans to see, but one league insider said that despite a target of a similar timeline for this year, the league might not make it. 

NBC Sports' esteemed writer, Peter King in his most recent Football Morning in America, notes that while the league is still hoping to have all the t's crossed and the i's dotted in time to take to the masses for 8 pm EST on primetime television, a number of wrinkles have complicated things this year for commissioner Roger Goodell and the scheduling crew at 345 Park Avenue in New York City. King was told over the weekend it might not be ready in time due to the uptick in changes this year. 

**UPDATE** SCHEDULE WILL NOW BE RELEASED ON TIME ACCORDING TO ADAM SCHEFTER**

"The 2023 mega-games—opening Thursday, Sunday, and Monday nights, Thanksgiving Day, the new Black Friday tilt, the Sunday night game on Christmas Eve and the Monday tripleheader on Christmas—are not set in stone yet," he wrote. "The mega-games are usually solid by early May."    

King elaborated that the end of the Aaron Rodgers offseason saga with his trade to the New York Jets and the conclusion of the Lamar Jackson drama with the Baltimore Ravens signing him to an extremely lucrative five-year deal has allowed the league to sort out details on having those two clubs in primetime. Both of these offseason soap operas involving some of the most polarizing stars in the league had previously been seen as a potential roadblock to a May schedule release. With both situations sorted out and the two stars in place, the only question now is how many of those coveted appointment viewing slots the Jets and Ravens end up in. 

The last new complication that King raises as a sticking point is the new rules surrounding the elimination of road teams picking which network their game will be on. 

"With few exceptions, the road team for Sunday afternoon games has dictated where it would go on TV. In a game with an NFC road team, FOX would televise. For a game with an AFC road team, CBS would do it," King explained about how the system used to work. "Now, every Sunday afternoon game is a free agent, which expands the possibilities for the schedule." 

What Does This Mean For Steelers Fans?

The biggest thing for fans that comes with the schedule release is getting a chance to purchase tickets to see their teams play. Until the schedule is released, all fans can see on Ticketmaster is a list of the home opponents and a seating chart. One other thing that King pointed to in this year's schedule is that Pittsburgh might get into more prime-time games. The league tweaked its flexing rules in the offseason, meaning teams can play two short-week Thursday games instead of only one. According to King, the league might want to get rid of some of the bad teams playing on Thursday and replace them with teams that he says are "good, but not great, with major national followings (Pittsburgh or Green Bay or New England, perhaps, this year)." 

Will you be glued to the TV on the schedule release night? Comment below!

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