Steelers President Art Rooney II speaks on the 2025 regular season schedule

The 2025 NFL regular season schedule has been released, and there is a time after the dust has settled when you can look at the schedule and have some takeaways. In this regard, fans aren’t alone. In fact, Steelers team president Art Rooney II had some thoughts on the schedule after it was released Wednesday night.

His first thought was about how the divisional schedule was built, this year being much more spread out than in 2024 when all six AFC North games were packed into the back half of the schedule.

“I like to have them a little more spread out than what we had last year,” said Rooney. “I thought last year was a little too much at the end of the season, and so I like the way the division games fall this year a little better.”

The crown jewel of the schedule had to be the team’s game being played at Croke Park in Ireland. As for the opponent, Rooney admitted they didn’t have much say in the matter.

“We had a little bit of input, not a lot in terms of the date and our opponent in Ireland,” said Rooney, “but we’re happy with how the game fell (on the schedule) and where it falls on the calendar. And the great thing is that the ticket demand is already through the roof. We’re going to have a great Steelers crowd in Dublin.”

There is a general thought of teams having the choice of whether they want the bye right after their international game, or if they want to push it back later in the season. Rooney admitted the Steelers didn’t have much of a choice for their Week 5 bye, this after the Week 4 game in Ireland.

“Let’s say this, we didn’t ask for the bye after the Ireland game,” said Rooney. “The league has in the past, kind of tended to try to give teams their bye following an International Game. I don’t think that’s the rule anymore, but you know it’s not a bad way to do it. It is a long trip, and so it doesn’t hurt to have the bye coming after that.”

It isn’t as if the entire schedule worked out exactly to Rooney’s liking. If there is a complaint, it’s the fact the Steelers have a night game on the road in the latter portion of the season.

“We’re not crazy about having the night games late in the season,” said Rooney. “It happens, and it’s not a big, big deal, but we would prefer not to have too many night games late in the season. Obviously I also look for the long trips and how they fall, and unfortunately we have a Sunday night game in Los Angeles. Not crazy about the playing those night games on the West Coast.”

Ultimately, Rooney is pleased with the Steelers slate of games coming up in 2025.

“I don’t have any major complaints with the schedule. The only little complaint I have is that a night game on the West Coast is always something I’d prefer to avoid. But it happens, and we’ll deal with it. All in all, I like the way the schedule lays out. And it’s fairly balanced.”

For fans who look at the schedule from a logistical perspective, Rooney is right. The schedule is balanced, and lays out rather fairly. This is vastly different from the 2024 schedule which seemed to set up a Murderer’s Row in the back half of the season.

What are your thoughts on the schedule? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below, and be sure to stay tuned to SCN for the latest news and notes surrounding the Steelers as they prepare for the rest of the offseason and training camp.