If you're a Vikings fan, there's a good chance you've spent at least some time this week examining the 2019 schedule released Wednesday for pluses and minuses as they relate to the purple.
There's a better chance, though, that Mark Karwan was looking even more closely at it.
Karwan, a professor of operations research at the University of Buffalo, is part of a team of researchers that has partnered with the NFL in an attempt to make the league schedule as fair as possible for every team.
The group earned a three-year grant in November, and while their work didn't impact this year's schedule Karwan is studying it with great interest as he looks for ways to improve things next season and beyond.