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With the NFL working overtime to refute our report that they’re looking at all options regarding the future of Thursday Night Football, one of the league’s most powerful voices said yesterday he doesn’t see it ever leaving the weeknight schedule.

During his weekly show on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said having the prime time inventory is worth it, even though ratings are down this year.

“I think [Thursday Night Football] is here for good,” Jones said, via Drew Davison of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “Why that it is prime-time. It’s a great opportunity for the NFL to basically be a part of what we want to be. And that is we appreciate the interest that is in our game.

“I was reading in the Wall Street Journal about how your television ratings are down. But the number one product in all of television is the NFL. And it’s across the board. So all ratings are down and the NFL is the strongest programming that is out there.

“I don’t anticipate anything happening to Thursday Night Football.”

Something needs to change, because that product is performing less well than it has in the past, and with television audiences changing with advances in technology, the league’s going to have to adapt too.

The first step would be to abandon the Oprah Winfrey-style “You get a game, you get a game, you get a game” strategy and put more appealing matchups on Thursdays if they are so coveted. But until they do, it will be fair to wonder about the future of a night of TV that isn’t as “Must See” as it used to be.