Trump and Clinton vs. the NFL

Donald Trump argues that the Commission on Presidential Debates — a consortium of Democratic and Republican interests that since 1988 has set the debate rules — is in cahoots with Hillary Clinton to schedule the events for times when most Americans won’t see them. But while its doubtful the commission has conspired to harm Mr. Trump, he has a point that the panel could do a better job of making sure both candidates’ messages reach as many Americans as possible.

Mr. Trump is annoyed that two of the three upcoming presidential debates will conflict with the airing of prime-time NFL games this fall. In response, the debate commission issued a statement pointing out that the schedule, created more than a year ago, will not change due to any conflicts with other programming.

“The Commission on Presidential Debates started working more than 18 months ago to identify religious and federal holidays, baseball league playoff games, NFL games, and other events in order to select the best nights for the 2016 debates,” the statement reads. “It is impossible to avoid all sporting events, and there have been nights on which debates and games occurred in most election cycles. A debate has never been rescheduled as a result.”

As a recent piece in Forbes noted, it would be difficult for the commission to create a debate calendar to favor one candidate over the other. The schedule was set long before Mr. Trump or Mrs. Clinton had even launched their campaigns.

Still, as Forbes also points out, fewer people tend to tune into the debates when there’s an NFL game to watch instead. According to Nielsen, two of the past four presidential debates that aired against “Sunday Night Football” or “Monday Night Football” were the least-watched of the election cycle. You have to go back almost 20 years to Bill Clinton vs. Bob Dole to find a debate that was the most-watched of the campaign yet aired against an NFL broadcast.

While history has shown it can be a challenge to schedule debates that don’t conflict with prime-time NFL match-ups, it is certainly not impossible. Tuesday or Wednesday nights would be obvious options. And given the chaotic nature of this election, the commission should have better staggered or otherwise reworked the debate schedule to ensure that as many Americans as possible tune in.

The debate commission was originally created ostensibly “to ensure that debates, as a permanent part of every general election, provide the best possible information to viewers and listeners.” Members of the commission seem to have forgotten that objective.