Could the NFL learn something from college football?

[GGGG]

Chicos interested to get your take on this...

I love college football on Saturdays.  You can pretty much see any game of significance during the week.  However the NFL's television policy seems stuck from a different era.  Viewers usually get one or two games at the 12:00 Central slot, largely based on regional interest.  Ditto for 3:00.

I know they get something like $1B per year from Direct TV from the Sunday ticket, but would they do better putting all their games in each time slot on ESPN, et. al.?  For instance, if there are 16 games on a given week, 13 of which are on Sunday afternoon (one on Thursday, one on Sunday night, one on Monday night), would the NFL make more money if they divided them up between CBS, Fox, FS1, ESPN and its family of channels, etc. which could allow the viewer to watch any game they wished as long as they had the appropriate cable package?  It just seems strange in this day and age that you can't watch a game that you want to watch.

[DegenerateDish]

I've heard the NFL has toyed with this idea. Like having 2 games start at 11:30 am CST, then 2 games at 1pm, spacing them out.

Issue is the amount of revenue generated from DirecTv and the pregame shows make a ton of $.

One thing I think they should do is a 8:30 am international game every other week, and a 10pm Sunday night game every other week.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Chicos interested to get your take on this...

I love college football on Saturdays.  You can pretty much see any game of significance during the week.  However the NFL's television policy seems stuck from a different era.  Viewers usually get one or two games at the 12:00 Central slot, largely based on regional interest.  Ditto for 3:00.

I know they get something like $1B per year from Direct TV from the Sunday ticket, but would they do better putting all their games in each time slot on ESPN, et. al.?  For instance, if there are 16 games on a given week, 13 of which are on Sunday afternoon (one on Thursday, one on Sunday night, one on Monday night), would the NFL make more money if they divided them up between CBS, Fox, FS1, ESPN and its family of channels, etc. which could allow the viewer to watch any game they wished as long as they had the appropriate cable package?  It just seems strange in this day and age that you can't watch a game that you want to watch.

The huge difference is cable vs network.  The networks receive the benefits for pro football and own all the rights to every game except Monday night.  Those local affiliates help pay for those rights and the networks essentially own Sundays as it is.  For college football, yes there are some games on the networks, but many more on ESPN, ESPN2, FS1, etc, etc.  So it's a different situation where they aren't protecting any affiliates.

Also, don't forget an entity like CBS wants this to lead into 60Minutes which they will never move.

Yes, DIRECTV spends a lot of money, but not as much as the networks do or ESPN.   ESPN pays $1.9 billion per year for ONE game a week.  DIRECTV spends about $1.5 billion for up many games per week, but with a different viewership because they are all out of market.  The three networks are paying a little over $3 billion a year for their games.  Then add on top of that radio rights, etc.

Long story short, massive amounts of money being spent and they already control all of a Sunday.  No reason to mess with what works and is a license to print money.  Ratings remain very strong.

[GGGG]

Thanks Chicos.  Makes sense.

[ChicosBailBonds]

de nada