Roger Goodell Made Specific Demand For One “Iconic” Primetime Game That Every NFL Fan Is Going To Hate

This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.

After a lot of anticipation, the NFL released its full 2026 schedule on Thursday. Besides a record-breaking nine international games, the league will play games on all but one day of the week next campaign.

Primetime games will include high-profile matchups, including a Super Bowl 61 rematch in Week 1, a Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers duel in Week 6 and a Kansas City Chiefs vs. Buffalo Bills matchup in Week 12, among others.

One of the primetime games will feature the New Orleans Saints and the Atlanta Falcons. The Week 4 duel won’t be the most attractive one after both teams posted negative records last season, but Roger Goodell played a big part in this decision.

Roger Goodell Pushed For Saints-Falcons MNF Game

NFL vice president of broadcasting planning Mike North explained on Friday that the commissioner wanted this matchup to be on primetime.

“It’s really to the Commissioner’s credit, it was, ‘We’re gonna play Falcons at Saints on Monday night this year, fit it in in that kind of three-week window.’ So, it wasn’t a requirement it had to land in a special week, but it was a requirement, straight from the boss, that it landed on our schedule,” North said, via Pro Football Talk.

The 2006 game took place in Week 3, but the league’s overall schedule pushed it to Week 4.

“Relative to the exact date of the anniversary, honestly, we figured if we were within a couple of weeks, we were in good shape,” North said. “Fans remember that moment, the electricity, the excitement. If we were a week early, or closer to the day, or a week later, weren’t gonna throw away our best schedule just by being off a couple days. Plus, as you know, there’s a lot of events going on in that region. I don’t have the stadium availability off the top of my head, but relative to the Dome itself, the arena across the street, there’s concerts, there’s basketball games, there’s other things going on at times. It wasn’t a, ‘This game has to be in this week.’”

Twenty years ago, Saints fans lived a terrific moment when their team returned to the Superdome.