NY Jets want to make Black Friday game an annual tradition

Justin Fried

NY Jets, Sauce Gardner / Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

The NFL has long been built on the foundation of tradition, and the NY Jets are hoping to introduce a tradition of their own onto the NFL's yearly calendar.

The Jets will face their division rivals, the Miami Dolphins, on the NFL's first-ever Black Friday game later this year. According to league executive Mike North, the Jets are one of a few teams interested in making this an annual tradition.

North made an appearance on "The Adam Schefter Podcast" last week where he discussed a number of schedule-related storylines. He revealed that the Cincinnati Bengals approached the league earlier in the year with a proposal to play on Black Friday every season.

The NFL also considered giving the Black Friday game to a New York Giants/Philadelphia Eagles NFC East clash before settling on the Jets/Dolphins. After the Jets were selected as the hosts, the franchise apparently expressed interest in making this a permanent fixture.

"The Jets, once they found out they were the host team, then started to think about, 'Hey, is this something we could make a permanent fixture as part of the NFL schedule?' Maybe they didn't raise their hands in February, but now that they have been selected as the Black Friday host, I think they might be interested in it, too."
Mike North

Could the NY Jets play on Black Friday every year?

It would make a ton of sense to include a big-market team like the Jets on Black Friday each year. With the game set to be distributed on Amazon Prime Video, Jeff Bezos' company reportedly reached out to the NFL about having a New York team involved in this year's Black Friday game.

Amazon wants the annual Black Friday game to be played in America's No. 1 retail market, and having the Jets host every year would satisfy that condition.

North did tell Schefter that no final decision has been made yet as to if the Black Friday game will have a permanent host or if they will rotate matchups, but if they do introduce an annual host, the Jets seem like an obvious candidate.

This wouldn't be unprecedented for the NFL, either. The Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions have played annually on Thanksgiving Day for decades. The Jets on Black Friday could become the next annual Thanksgiving week tradition.

The Jets will be featured on national television a number of times this season — a stark departure for an organization that has played just two primetime games over the last two years.

The Aaron Rodgers effect is in full force, and his arrival might just be enough to help the Jets land a permanent residency on the NFL's Black Friday calendar.

Justin Fried

Justin Fried is an editor for FanSided who has over seven years of experience covering the NFL and various other sports. A diehard Jets fan since birth, Justin has served as the editor for The Jet Press since 2019, interviewing athletes such as Sauce Gardner, Curtis Martin, LaDainian Tomlinson, Joe Klecko, and many others. Justin has also worked closely with brands like Red Bull to help highlight the niche sectors of the sporting world. His four-part series on the sport of breaking remains one of his proudest pieces of work. In his spare time, Justin is an avid pro wrestling fan who is fortunate enough to have traveled to nearly 30 different countries.