"Are you ready for a lot more prime-time football?

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell used his annual Super Bowl news conference yesterday to reveal the league is dramatically expanding the Thursday night package on its own network starting this fall.

In what appeared to be a way to up the pressure in its long-running dispute with Time Warner Cable and Cablevision over New York-area carriage of the NFL Network, the league said that channel will now show Thursday games from Week 2 through Week 15.

The NFL Network previously broadcast Thursday games the final eight weeks of the season, but Goodell said the expansion resulted from a desire to guarantee every team in the league at least one prime-time appearance per season.

"We think it's great for the teams because everyone will get that prime-time exposure, and we think it's great for the network," Goodell said during his 45-minute media session at a downtown hotel.

The expansion of the Thursday package also appeared to include a nod to the Jets with the stipulation every team also will be required to play one Thursday game on a short week after a Sunday game."