Chargers fans still aren't thrilled with NFL's TNF flex vs. Broncos

The Los Angeles Chargers being involved in the first-ever Thursday Night Football flex was a bittersweet moment for fans.

On one hand, the team being good enough during the first year of the Jim Harbaugh era to get flexed into primetime was a fantastic development.

On the other, fans were mad, and understandably so, about a game being moved to a Thursday and messing with travel plans, including hotels, airline tickets and more—especially around the holidays.

Right before kickoff when the Chargers host the Denver Broncos in Week 16, fans continue to voice frustration, this time in an excellent breakdown from The Athletic’s Daniel Popper and Nick Kosmider.

One fan said the following after being forced to sell their tickets: “Holiday season, you can’t change flights. We’re a family of five, so it’s not exactly the cheapest or easiest thing to do.”

Another fan who had to sell tickets: “This is something that we look forward to months in advance. … For some of my buddies, this was their only time to go to a Charger game, the people that were out of town. This was their only opportunity to go to a Charger game because they’re only in town for a week for Christmas and New Year’s with the family. So they got screwed.”

Again, bittersweet. This is the drawback of the NFL opening up these types of flexes in an effort to put the games with playoff implications into primetime—great for at-home viewers but not-so-great for fans who plan to attend the games.

It should go without saying, but the NFL will eventually need to scheme up a way to do right by fans impacted by schedule changes, if possible, no matter what the fine print on the tickets says about things being subject to change.

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