Why Jets-Dolphins are playing on Black Friday

There's more information about why the NFL picked the New York Jets to host the Miami Dolphins for the league's first Black Friday game. 

"It kind of felt right, being in New York, the retail capital of the world on the biggest retail day," NFL vice president of broadcast planning Mike North told New York Post sports media columnist Andrew Marchand. 

Well-respected NFL insider Peter King of NBC Sports raised eyebrows when he reported for the May 1 edition of his "Football Morning in America" column that the Philadelphia Eagles facing the New York Giants was "the leader in the clubhouse" to be this year's Black Friday game. North admitted to Marchand that the Giants "almost ended up in that slot with a matchup with the Eagles." 

Considering what North said about "the retail capital of the world," it seems the Giants would've been the home team for that contest held the Friday after Thanksgiving. 

It was learned in March that Amazon will stream the Nov. 24 game scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. ET on Prime Video for free instead of putting it behind a paywall. Getting as many eyes as possible directed toward the service on the country's busiest shopping day likely impacted the NFL choosing to feature new Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers that afternoon. 

"We are thrilled with such a strong historical matchup and excited to kick off the holiday season in N.Y. and start a new Thanksgiving weekend tradition," Amazon vice president of global sports video Marie Donoghue told the Post. 

North acknowledged that the NFL "looked at schedules" that included the Jets playing in one of the Thanksgiving Day broadcast slots. One wonders if Amazon helped convince the league to push Gang Green back by a day on the calendar. 

Clearly, the NFL and Amazon are hoping at least the Rodgers-led Jets, if not the Dolphins, will be considered possible Super Bowl contenders in late November and that the two AFC East rivals will help create what becomes a must-stream event.