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Before joining our Access Vikings team, Dan Wiederer covered Atlantic Coast Conference basketball for the Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer and was named North Carolina's top sports columnist in 2010. His previous reporting experience includes covering the Chicago Bears. Follow him on Twitter @StribDW.


Mark Craig has covered football and the NFL the past 20 years, including the Browns from 1991-95 and the Vikings and the NFL since 2003. Since 2008, Craig has served as one of the 44 Pro Football Hall of Fame selectors. He can be followed on Twitter at @markcraignfl.


Vikings headed for more prime-time exposure?

Posted by: under Vikings, Bears, Football on TV, Packers, Adrian Peterson, Brett Favre, Jared Allen Updated: November 7, 2009 - 10:50 AM

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Any doubt about what kind of impact Brett Favre can have on television viewership was answered by the monster ratings the Vikings’ two games against Favre’s old team, the Green Bay Packers, did this season.

While those figures are unlikely to be repeated – the Vikings victory at Green Bay on Sunday was the most-watched program on television since the Academy Awards with 29.8 million viewers – a team that features Favre, Adrian Peterson and Jared Allen is extremely attractive to executives at any network.

Thus, it’s not a stretch to think the Vikings will end up being flexed into NBC’s Sunday night lineup in the second half of the season. The ability for the NFL to switch games from Sunday afternoon to Sunday nights begins on Nov. 22, the day the Vikings will play host to Seattle.
 
Here’s NBC current schedule beginning with that date: Philadelphia at Chicago on Nov 22; Pittsburgh at Baltimore on Nov. 29; New England at Miami on Dec. 6; Philadelphia at the New York Giants on Dec. 13; Vikings at Carolina on Dec. 20; Dallas at Washington on Dec. 27; and a yet-to-be picked game on Jan. 3.
 
Now here’s the Vikings schedule starting with that date: Seattle at Vikings, noon, on Nov. 22 (Fox); Chicago at Vikings, noon, on Nov. 29 (Fox); Vikings at Arizona, 3:15 p.m., on Dec. 6 (Fox); Cincinnati at Vikings, noon, on Dec. 13 (CBS); Vikings at Carolina, 7:20 p.m., Dec. 20 (NBC); Vikings at Chicago, 7:30 p.m., Dec. 28 (a Monday night on ESPN); and New York Giants at Vikings, noon, Jan. 3 (Fox).
 
As you can see, NBC has one Vikings game already and the Monday night game on ESPN is set for that date and can’t be moved. That leaves five potential chances for NBC to add the Vikings.
 
NBC could have interest in taking the Vikings-Bears game on Nov. 29 but I’m hearing Fox has protected that game. CBS and Fox are allowed to protect five games per season from being moved to the Sunday night slot.
 
The Vikings game that might have the best chance of being shifted would be the regular-season finale against the Giants. New York has lost three in a row, but the 5-3 Giants certainly could rebound and that game could be important to them.
 
The Giants already have the maximum number of prime-time appearances with five on their schedule. However, the NFL allows three teams to play up to six prime-time games provided one of those appearances is on the NFL Network. The Giants will play at Denver on Thanksgiving night on the league-owned channel.
 
If that Vikings-Giants game is going to be moved we won’t know for quite a while. Because the NFL wants to wait to see what matchups are going to be of the most importance for playoff purposes when it comes to that final weekend, it only has to pick the NBC game for the final week of the season six days out. For the rest of the flex schedule, there has to be 12 days notice.
 

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