There hasn't been an NFL game played on a Tuesday since 1946, so it's noteworthy that the Eagles/Vikings game was moved to that day. The assumption would be that since the game was supposed to be a Sunday night game for NBC, that the network still wants it as a night game. However, ESPN clearly wouldn't want NBC broadcasting a prime time game on free broadcast TV in competition with their Monday night football matchup of the Saints and Falcons. All reports say that the snowstorm will be over tomorrow morning, so keeping the TV networks happy seems to be the most obvious reasoning for the move to Tuesday.
Eagles COO Don Smolenski was asked how much NBC influenced the NFL's decision.
"That's probably a question for the league. Our conversations were really just with the league officials. It's in the league's hands and the league has those types of conversations. From our end, we just sort of give them an update on what's happening here in our market with the building and with the city and the conditions. We kind of are separated from that."
The Eagles are now left with just a four day turnaround to prepare for what could very well be a crucial matchup with the Dallas Cowboys. The game could determine whether the Eagles get a #2 seed and a bye. Smolenski said that a four day turnaround is not unprecedented, but there is some concern about whether the field can handle two games in five days with the weather.
"That certainly was a part of the conversations. I guess it's not unprecedented with the Sunday to Thursday turnaround with the games on Thursday late in the season. That was really secondary to fan safety and public safety."
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