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The NFL faces criticism for making it harder to watch games without extra costs, despite claiming that 87% of games were available for free last season. This shift towards cable and paid streaming raises concerns about accessibility for fans.
Credit: PFT Live
The NFL finds itself in a political and public relations battle over the perception that itās making it harder to find games without paying extra. Itās a big deal as the league has long enjoyed antitrust exemptions by making most of its games available to the public via network television.
In recent years, as the NFL has taken more games to cable and, more specifically, paid streaming services, itās signaled that itās less concerned about keeping things free and affordable for fans. At least thatās how it can be interpreted.
The NFLās biggest talking point in defending against these claims is that 87% of all games last season were telecast on free, over-the-air broadcast networks (including free local broadcasts for any market whose team was playing on a streaming service). That percentage is likely what will keep Donald Trumpās DOJ and FCC at bay over fragmentation concerns.
Pro Football Talkās Mike Florio thinks that while that number sounds impressive, thereās a little bit of sleight of hand going on in how itās presented.
āThis talking point that has been making the rounds now and is starting to stick with some people in the media who arenāt thinking criticallyā 87% of the games are available on free TV,ā Florio said on a recent episode of PFT Live. āThatās become theā basically, āLeave us alone.ā 87% of the games are on free TV, and it sounds great. And youāve got people who do what we do for a living who are signing on to that and parroting it, but the big thing that weāre missingā most of those games are clustered into 3 windows on a Sunday, where youāre going to get at most 3 games. Youāre not getting the rest of them unless you get Sunday Ticket.
āSo theyāre on free TV, yeah, but you aināt getting 87% of them. Iām not getting 87ā nobodyās getting 87% of the games for free.ā
Florio goes on to say that while those clusters of games on network TV (CBS and Fox) account for the bulk of that number, there is an ever-growing number of games shifting to streamers and pay-TV, which undercuts it. Thursday Night Football is exclusive to Prime Video. Monday Night Football is mostly exclusive to ESPN, except when simulcast on ABC. Youāve got Christmas Day games on Netflix and certain playoff games on streamers. Netflix is reportedly getting the exclusive rights to the NFL Australia game and a Thanksgiving Eve game. And the league will likely continue chipping away for those exclusives that bring in big rights fees.
Sunday Night Football remains on NBC, and the league is promising a āslight increaseā in broadcast exposure this season thanks to expanded primetime windows on NBC, CBS, and Fox.
While itās true that local markets will get access to those paywalled games, that doesnāt do much for NFL fans around the country who donāt have the means to plunk down ever-rising subscription fees for Netflix, Peacock, Apple, YouTube, and whoever else ends up getting rights down the road. This is, for better or worse, the way of the sports media world, but the NFLās 87% figure doesnāt hold up under much scrutiny.
The post Mike Florio throws cold water on NFLās ā87% of games are freeā talking point appeared first on Awful Announcing.
87% of NFL games were telecast on free, over-the-air broadcast networks last season.
The NFL has increasingly moved games to cable and paid streaming services, making it harder for fans to access games for free.
The changes could lead to public relations issues and scrutiny from the Department of Justice and FCC regarding accessibility and antitrust concerns.
This claim is crucial for the NFL to defend against fragmentation concerns raised by regulators and to maintain its antitrust exemptions.
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