Schedule Release Triggers Flashbacks to an Embarrassing Moment
It has been reported that the NFL is releasing the full 2016 schedule tonight at 8PM. It’s a bit surprising that there wasn’t more of a build up for this but as they say, it is what it is.
Whenever the schedule is announced I can’t help but think back to 2005 when we provided a sneak peak of the Ravens schedule before everyone else. But the story really starts in 2004.
Our site, then called Ravens24x7.com, was less than a year old and a friend of a friend who worked in the NFL offices on Park Avenue in New York slipped me a schedule before the announcement date. I posted it on our site and it drew in traffic that we had not previously seen.
The schedule was spot on – flawless.
It was a major coup for us.
At about the same time the following April (2005), the same source provided the same sneak preview. I didn’t hesitate to put it out.
Fans who remembered our breaking news event the previous year dove in and eagerly shared the “2005 schedule”.
My phone rang.
It was Chad Steele from the Ravens and he wasn’t happy. Apparently the schedule set off a whirlwind of calls to the team from M&T Bank suite owners who were upset that they weren’t given the promised heads up on the schedule release. Back then NFL Network hadn’t yet learned how to make it the show that it is today.
Every single date on the schedule we released was wrong. All 17 weeks! Even the bye week was wrong.
The next time I saw team Exec VP Kevin Byrne he gave me a few important words of wisdom that since have been indelibly etched upon my cerebral cortex:
“Tony, if you think you have a breaking story, give us a call. If you’re wrong we’ll tell you. If you’re right we’ll either confirm it or we’ll say nothing and then it’s up to you to take it from there.”
Moments later, I decided Ravens24x7.com would not be in the news breaking business.
Today, with social media such a big component of society’s consciousness, there’s no need to be a news breaking entity. So Twitter, thank you for taking away this temptation.
Although the memories and embarrassment of “Schedule-Gate” alone, provide plenty incentive for me to hit the mute button.
