NFL ratings have jumped back up over the last few weeks, but concern still remains regarding Thursday Night Football.

When the league initially introduced TNF to the schedule, it was meant to boost the NFL Network's ratings, thereby increasing the price tag the league could demand for the channel from television providers. Over time, the schedule of Thursday games expanded, and now they're also carried by NBC, CBS, and even Twitter.

Since its induction, players and coaches have complained about the short work week and the impact it has on their performance. But over the last two years, declining viewership and criticism from the media have grabbed the league's attention, sparking the question: should the NFL completely abolish Thursday Night Football altogether?

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Many people believe the NFL has over-saturated the market with professional football, with three out of seven primetime slots containing games each week. And, unlike Sunday Night Football which can flex better matchups into the slot, TNF is often stuck with games between some of the lesser intriguing teams in the league, at least on a national scale.

The story really blew up this weekend, when Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio released this report:

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the league will be considering the possibility of ending, or at least limiting, Thursday Night Football.

…

The league realizes that, with every team playing once on a short week each season, many of the Thursday games necessarily will have reduced appeal.

Options include (but aren’t limited to) getting rid of Thursday games completely and possibly starting the package at Thanksgiving and continuing it through the end of the season, with games likely to generate broad interest selected in April for November/December programming.

Not so fast

Many media outlets took the story and ran with it, prematurely reporting the death of TNF. According to the league, that simply isn't the case.

From The Times-Picayune's Mike Scott:

After reports surfaced Sunday (Nov. 27) that the league was toying with the idea of scrapping its Thursday night games, which have underperformed ratings-wise, the NFL on Monday issued a statement denying any such intentions.

“We are fully committed to ‘Thursday Night Football' and any reports to the contrary are unfounded,” the league said in a brief statement.