In its statement, it said it was impossible to avoid all sporting events when scheduling debates, and added that presidential debates have never been rescheduled because of conflicts with sporting events.
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The Commission on Presidential Debates has announced that there will be one debate for the vice presidential hopefuls and three for the presidential candidates. The first debate here is September 26, then there’s one October 4, then there’s one October 9, the second presidential debate. The NFL announced its 2016 schedule in April this year though it has traditionally scheduled games on Sundays, Mondays and, more recently, Thursdays.
The independent, nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates serves as the debate sponsor and sets the participation criteria, dates, sites and formats of debates. Because on Friday night, Mr. Trump tweeted the following, he said that Clinton and the Dems are trying to “rig the debates”. “I got a letter from the NFL saying, ‘This is ridiculous.'” An NFL spokesman said they would prefer a different debate schedule, but there was no letter to Trump.
Trump also stated to ABC News that Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were both against the NFL. I suspect you understand you actually have to know stuff to engage in a policy debate, and that calling Clinton “Crooked Hillary” won’t cut it.
It didn’t take long for the media to contact the National Football League and find out if they sent the letter in question, and the answer was no.
“Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump debating each other, which is of interest to the entire country. there is a massive national interest, we just saw that in both national conventions breaking records”, he said. “And I was told they set up a schedule last fall and neither campaign – because who knew, we didn’t know who the nominees would be – were involved”, Clinton reportedly said. Given that nobody in a position of authority at the league is backing up the claim, I have no idea why he would have said that, but it’s equally true that the NFL isn’t wild about the plan. Bernie Sanders on Saturday nights and holiday weekends, times when viewership is low.
The NFL denied sending a letter.
Despite McCarthy’s statement, though, the Trump campaign is maintaining that their candidate’s claim was truthful.
According to the National Football League, there was no letter, “We did not write a letter, but we obviously prefer the debates on a different night than scheduled games”.
“The CPD did not consult with any political parties or campaigns in making these decisions”, the group said. ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” last season averaged close to 13 million viewers while NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” has been the most-watched prime time program for several years and last season averaged more than 21 million viewers.
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Trump did say three debates were “fine” and that he’d rather have three than one.
