Originally Posted by Literature
From the advertisers' perspective, why does it matter if weather is different than murder? Supposing the NFL had done the Chiefs-Panthers reschedule, the advert contract would still be breached due to an unforeseeable circumstance not contemplated by the parties (the advertisers and the tv channels): the situation being the NFL postpones a game because of a murder-suicide involving one of the players in that game. As anyone who has taken a first year law course in Contracts can tell you, breaches due to material, unforeseeable circumstances are valid excuses for nonperformance.
I get that this may tend towards why there should be a game, but I don't see why the contracts compel the game.
I'm not an expert on contracts, but I'm pretty sure that this doesn't qualify as an excuse for non-performance. If I'm an advertiser, I'd either demand my money back or that the ad be re-slotted to something else. If Fox moves the game, you're essentially asking them to pull another show off the air, which also depends on ad revenue.