The New Orleans Saints are among teams who voted against the flex plan at the spring NFL owners’ meetings Thursday night, NBC Sports’ Peter King first reported. Notably, Saints owner Gayle Benson was not in attendance, having instead traveled to New York City for the NBA Governor’s meetings to fulfill her responsibilities as owner of the New Orleans Pelicans.
Perhaps Benson will vote differently than team president Dennis Lauscha (as her representative) when NFL owners regroup for another roundtable in May, but it’s more likely that they’re both on the same page here. The Saints could have abstained entirely, as did the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos, but they chose to vote directly against the proposal. NFL bylaws needed 24 votes for the flex scheduling rule change to pass Thursday night, but it fell short.
It was a divisive issue. Thursday night’s games didn’t do as well in terms of ratings as the traditional Sunday and Monday night prime-time games, so from that perspective it makes sense to move better matchups into that time slot. But it’s prompting many players and coaches to rearrange their preparation schedules within two weeks as well – not to mention the tens of thousands of fans who will have to make expensive travel arrangements in the event of a flex. We’ll see if this eventually ends or if there’s enough resistance to postpone it altogether.
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Story originally appeared on Saints Wire
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