Philip G. Pavely-Imagn Images
The NFL relies on primetime to maximize ratings for games that fall on a weekday. Those start times can be an inconvenience for people who have to get up early in the morning, but one school district outside of Pittsburgh went out of its way to accommodate students ahead of a playoff showdown between the Steelers and the Texans.
The first night game in NFL history transpired when the Providence Steam Rollers hosted the Chicago Cardinals under the newly installed floodlights at a stadium in Rhode Island’s capital city on November 6, 1929.
It took a few decades for an evening backdrop to become a regular staple of the NFL schedule, and ABC was responsible for ushering in a new era when Monday Night Football made its grand debut in 1970.
Sundays and Thursdays would eventually get the primetime treatment, and while plenty of NFL fans enjoy being able to devote a solid chunk of their nights to watching football over the course of the season, those contests can be less than ideal for people who tend to go to sleep on the earlier side.
That includes millions of kids who run the risk of being deprived of the chance to watch their favorite team if they’re not able to convince their parents to let them stay up past their bedtime, and some younger members of Steeler Nation got an assist from their school system ahead of Monday night’s playoff tilt with the Texans.
The McKeesport Area School District instituted a two-hour delay on the Tuesday morning after the playoff game between the Steelers and the Texans
The NFL’s wild card round culminated with the season’s final installment of Monday Night Football and the Steelers facing off against the Texans for the right to face off against the Patriots next weekend.
The game was scheduled to get underway at Acrisure Stadium at 8:15 local time, which is less than ideal for many students in the Pittsburgh area who would normally be in bed at that point and plenty of others who will have to get up bright in early in the wake of a game that will wrap up close to midnight.
However, the kids who are enrolled at the learning institutions that comprise the McKeesport Area School District (located southeast of Pittsburgh) got some fantastic news on Monday courtesy of Superintendent Donald L. MacFann, who announced a two-hour delay will be observed on Tuesday morning in honor of the playoff game.
McKeesport with the 2-hour delay on Tuesday because of the Steelers playoff game Monday Night.
Yeah, that’s the way we do it in the Port. pic.twitter.com/LJA0HVIBPF
— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly) January 12, 2026
Here’s to hoping students will roll into school celebrating the team’s first playoff victory since the 2016 season and not dealing with the heartbreak of what would be their sixth consecutive one-and-done showing in the postseason.