The US Open Men's Final Constantly Going Up Against The First NFL Sunday Of The Year Is One Of The Dumbest Things That Happens In Sports

Erick W. Rasco. Getty Images.

Heads up, I'm going to take some time to vent in this blog and I have enough self awareness to realize none of you probably give a shit about this. I can't imagine many who come onto this site are sitting here today equally as furious as I am, but hey maybe we got a few? That's the beauty of the blog. 

So as you may know the US Open is winding down over in Queens with championship weekend upon us. Tonight the women will play their semifinal matches starting at 7PM. Tomorrow starting at 3:00 EST the men get going with Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic set to square off with a spot in the final on the line. Following them, no earlier than 7PM will be Jannik Sinner and Felix Auger Aliassime. Is it silly that the Alcaraz-Djokovic match isn't in prime time? Absolutely, but since they both played their quarterfinal match earlier than the other two they get the day session. There's Chiefs-Chargers on at night anyways, so it's not the end of the world to separate the two. 

Here's the problem. The men's final is set to start on Sunday at 2:00 PM EST. Guess what else is on Sunday? The very first full slate of the NFL season. This isn't a coincidence by the way. Every year for as long as I can remember the final goes up against football's debut week. If they both take care of business tomorrow a Carlos Alcaraz-Jannik Sinner US Open final on Sunday will get smothered by the NFL. I won't stand for this kind of nonsense! Alcaraz and Sinner are must watch TV when they're up against one another. Their French Open final was one of the best things I've ever seen with my own two eyes. 

Well Hubbs, tennis is an international sport. They don't care about the United States and the NFL, dummy. 

The tournament takes place IN New York City. It dominates the city for two weeks. Tickets for Friday's Djokovic-Alcaraz match on Friday are $1,000 just to get in the building. This is a massive deal. The goal should always be growing the sport, especially here in the States where it's not as popular. If you're not concerned about going against the monster that is the NFL then you're admitting you don't care about increasing the game's popularity. They should be doing everything they can to maximize their audience here with how special these two are. 

So just watch both!

It'd be one thing if this was on Sunday night, lined up against a stand alone football game where you could just flip back and forth. This is the heart of the football slate. You're taking on the witching hour head-on without a care in the world. A Sinner Alcaraz final deserves your full attention. I love this sport, but it will be impossible to give this my full, undivided attention given the time slot. That's a massive problem!

Move the tournament up a week early

In a perfect world you move the tournament up a week early so that it ends on Labor Day Monday with no NFL to mess with you. Baseball has no idea what they're doing and subsequently refuses to own that day (the Yankees and Dodgers didn't play this year somehow), so you can jump in there and take it. Unfortunately the rest of the tennis schedule is jam packed so moving back a week is basically impossible unless you get the rest of the tour to play ball. The tennis schedule does need a major shake up as players are typically way too gassed by this time of the year with events stacked up one after another. Maybe that happens down the road, but nothing is imminent. 

What about playing the final on Saturday? 

Again, moving anything earlier creates issues. This would be less invasive to the schedule rather than bumping an entire week earlier, but still pretty difficult with how few days off would be between matches if any. 

Monday?

I think the way to fix this is push the final to Monday. They did this in 2013 and 2014. What's another off day? I'm sure the players would love it. Start it at 4PM local time that way it's still manageable for the European viewing window. They're having dinner around then anyways, right? It would work as the lead-in for the first Monday Night Football game of the year and be able to grab a standalone audience leaving work, just waiting around for kickoff. You're always going to get people to attend the event, it's about watching at home. Most would be settled in on their couch by the time the 2nd set rolls around. Problem solved. 

I think it's just ridiculous they continuously go against Week 1 of the NFL season. 2PM is INSANE. It's like they're intentionally trying to alienate the US from a tournament in its on back yard. I just want everyone to be able to watch a Carlos Alcaraz-Jannik Sinner US Open final, but this year if it happens that won't be the case. The way it's trending, it'll be these two at the end of slams just killing each other, putting on must-watch performances for the foreseeable future. Let's just be smart about this and make it so everyone can watch. 

P.S. Speaking of schedule incompetence, how about what baseball did today? 6 games, five of which are getaway days yet we only have one day game. It's the first NFL game of the year. Why not throw these games on during the day and avoid challenging Eagles-Cowboys? 

Brain dead minds coming together over at MLB.