Late last month, NBC’s Pro Football Talk revealed the NFL’s plans for new rules pertaining to coaches’ in-game media availability.
Networks broadcasting games will be granted limited access to locker rooms, and coaches will also be interviewed by sideline reporters during games.
Longtime Chiefs coach Andy Reid said he will fulfill his in-game media requirements, beginning Sept. 5 when Kansas City hosts the Baltimore Ravens. But he also tempered viewers’ expectations.
“I’m not very good during games on interviews. I won’t be very fancy with these interviews,” Reid told reporters Friday. “I don’t know. Listen, I’ve got to do it. I’m going to do it. I’m an NFL team guy, so I’m going to do it. But don’t expect much.”
Reid enters the 2024 season with 258 wins, which puts him in fourth place on the NFL’s career list.
The information on the in-game interviews was discovered in the more than 2,000-page transcript from the NFL Sunday Ticket trial. According to the document, Cathy Yancy, the NFL’s vice president of broadcasting rights, testified that coaches will be required to submit to an interview while games are in progress in 2024.
“This year, we have a new policy going into effect where all of the clubs are going to have to make a head coach available live for an interview during the game,” Yancy said, according to PFT.
“Each team has to provide a head coach; one in the first half, one in the second half. And that’s for all teams, and it’s available for all TV partners.”
An NFL spokesperson later clarified the new policy, saying, “When requested by the televising network, both clubs must make available the head coach or either offensive or defensive coordinator for an in-game, on-camera interview at the end of quarter breaks or at halftime.”
