Millions of football fans are looking forward to watching the Cowboys take on the Green Bay Packers tonight, with home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs probably at stake. But tonight is also the night when the NFL’s greed will be revealed in glorious high definition, when many of these same fans are unable to see the game.
That's because more than half of Americans don't get the NFL Network, which is the only channel that will carry the game nationally.
Not too long ago, pretty much every NFL game was available through the broadcast networks.But last year, in search of additional revenues, the NFL created the NFL Network, and this year it has reserved certain games for its own network, including the Cowboys/Packers game.
Now, to be clear, there is nothing wrong with the NFL (or any other business) trying to create new revenue streams. And, since the games are property of the NFL, it can do with them what it wishes, including reserving some of them for its own network.
But new revenue has to come from somewhere, and this is where the NFL is being disingenuous. Instead of allowing its new network to be included in the “sports tier” of cable programming (for an extra fee), the NFL is putting the squeeze on video providers, demanding that the NFL Network be included for free in everyone’s basic tier of programming, and then running an advertising campaign trashing the cable companies for not bowing to the NFL’s demands.
Essentially, the NFL is demanding that video providers themselves subsidize the NFL’s new revenue stream, and is dishonestly deflecting the ire of football fans away from the league and onto beleaguered video providers.
Several college leagues, like the Big Ten Network and the Mountain West Network, are trying the same thing.
But now these organizations are trying to recruit the iron fist of government to their cause. They are lobbying state legislatures to intervene in what is essentially a matter of private business negotiation. At the federal level, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is making noises about stepping onto this field as well. Unbelievably, legislation has actually been introduced in Ohio and Illinois that would require cable companies to carry these new networks at no additional costs.
There is no role for government to intrude into the business negotiations going on between the sports networks and the video providers. No one’s rights are at stake, and if the NFL wants to reserve some of its games for exclusive networks or even pay-per-view, that is its right as owner of the programming.
If you don’t get to see one of the most anticipated games of the season, the Packers against the Cowboys, or if you have to go over to your nosy neighbor’s or to your annoying brother-in-law’s to see the game, get mad at the NFL, not at your video provider. It's the NFL that took the game away from you in order to use your passion for football as a bargaining chip in their negotiations with the cable company – illegal substitution on the play!