Tonight’s Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys has been billed “the greatest NFC game of the season” (watch it be a blow-out, no matter what side). Only problem: 40% of the United States will be able to see it. That’s right: 74 million cable subscribers will not see tonight’s game because the game is on the NFL Network. Why? Cable and the NFL network can not agree on terms of a contract because the NFL wants the channel to be on the basic tier, meaning the standard cable rates to up.
Cable companies want the channel to be on digital sports tier, meaning your digital cable rates go up. So no matter what happens, your cable bill will go up.
My favorite quote from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, when asked about the situation between the NFL network and cable providers,
Blame the cable carriers for not allowing it, he said.
Jerry Jones, general manager of the Dallas Cowboys and chairman of the NFL network also blames cable whenever asked about it. So much that Comcast has sent a cease-and-desist about telling people to switch to satellite.
“I know I have been given a cease and desist to quit saying that, but that is a fact,” Jones said. “It’s frustrating to think millions of Cowboys and Packers fans won’t be able to see it.”
My take: First of, quit comparing satellite to cable. Satellite is cable. Just because your getting channels from a satellite instead of wire, it’s still the same thing.
I get really upset people taking the side of the NFL and painting the NFL as the victim. Come on! The NFL is the victim because cable providers won’t carry the NFL? Please! The only reason the NFL put these games on their own network is because the NFL wants more money. That’s it! Period!
So those that take the side of NFL, you might want to consider these issues I have with the NFL:
– The NFL imposes a 45 second rule for any media organization that records footage of practices, press conferences, interviews, etc. for online usage. Reason: have fans go to NFL.com, which has ads, which = $$$$
– NFL requires all photographers to wear vests sponsored by Canon and Reebok, official sponsors of the NFL ($$$$)
I’m not even going to get into the issue of new tax-funded stadiums. My point is this: The NFL is all about nickel and dimming the fans. Always have, always been. This piece may sound communist, even un-American. I don’t care. I’m taking a stand. I’m tried of being viewed as a dollar sign. Do people even know that season tickets for a Dallas Cowboys game at the new stadium in Arlington, TX start at “$340 per seat per game, after forking over a one-time fee of up to $50,000 for the right to buy tickets for that seat for 30 years.”
Deron Snyder of the Indianapolis Star sums it up and I couldn’t agree more . .
“Since when does the NFL really care about the fans?”
UPDATE: Apparently, no one is taking the NFL’s side.
Video: Another reason I don’t like the NFL Network, Bryan Gumbel bores me as well as Deion Sanders. And “Mad Dog” Chris Russo agrees with me (providing you can understand him in the video).
And yes, I’ll be watching the game, because I get NFLN and you don’t.