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NFL Cares About All the Fans...Who Subscribe to the NFL Network

I'm down in a magical place that the NFL recognizes as the sole home market of the Patriots: Greater Boston.

Even in this place, where fans will be able to watch the final game of the Patriots season--on local affiliate WCVB--there's stories in the press about fans' frustration with the NFL and cable carriers.

If you read my previous post on the NFL's inability to read a map, Maine fans of the NEW ENGLAND Patriots will not be watching the final--possibly historic--game of the Patriots' season. This is because the NFL is showing it on their own NFL Network, which isn't currently available on Time Warner.

Seth Palansky, communications director of the NFL, commented on the post, saying:

I'm sorry the point is being missed in this story. The NFL feels the same way the fans do. NFL games should be made available broadly and affordably. The games should be available to ALL the fans who want to see them, not just the fortunate few who can afford the 400% markup the cable company wants to charge you.

Unfortunately, this just isn't true. If the NFL wanted the games to be available to "ALL the fans who want to see them" the NFL Network wouldn't exist and the games would be broadcast on NBC, CBS or FOX. The NFL Network only exists to make more money for the NFL. As Nancy Marrapese-Burrell reported in the Boston Globe:

Rodge Goodell...made the point several times that he was sticking up for the fans. He said it was important to make NFL games as accessible as possible to the widest audience.

Seems like Goodell and Palansky are reading off the same playbook. Marrapese-Burrell goes on to say:

Let's say that's true and he actually believes that. One longtime TV insider who requested anonymity said Goodell has the ability to take the Patriots-Giants game off The NFL Network and give it to the rest of the country for free.

"If it's all about taking care of the fans, they should turn around and say, 'We're going to do something brilliant; we'll give it to NBC and let them dump the Kansas City-Jets game,' " the insider said. "If the NFL really cared, let NBC flex do that [Patriots] game on Saturday night, let the entire country see it, and put Jets-Kansas City [Sunday] on The NFL Network.

Don't get me wrong. I want the NFL to make money. It's a business, providing what I and millions of others think is a superior product. Even when the Pats aren't good (not that long ago), football is still a sport worth watching.

I realize I'm arguing against my own best interests by saying that the cable companies should have the right to make the NFL Network an option. It would be cheaper for me if they force the NFL Network on everybody, basically subsidizing my costs.

However, Goodell, Palasnky, and the rest of the NFL should stop pretending they have the fans' best interest at heart. They want to force the NFL Network down the cable companies' collective throats, and the Patriots game is the best leverage they've had so far. Down the road you can be sure the Superbowl will be available to everyone...who has the NFL Network.

The NFL should do the right thing and allow the local markets to show the game. That includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey in this case...am I forgetting anyone? These are our teams. We support them. We buy their products, their t-shirts, their hats, their toilet paper. We sit through their commercials. Some of us buy season tickets. We're not freeloaders, we're supporting your business and we're your customers.

Start treating us like we matter.

Rich Brooks
Part of the Local Market

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