The record-setting, eight-year, $17.6 billion television contract between the National Football League and its partnering networks expires following the 2005 season. Generally, the NFL and its partnering and non-partnering networks do not begin to discuss a new television rights deal until the month of October, on the final year of the television contract. The NFL has wanted to start discussions this October, an entire year earlier than normal.
Disney, however, which owns ABC and ESPN, wishes not to discuss the television rights situation until the end of this season. With Disney's ownership of both stations, and the huge role it plays in the current television contract, the NFL will most likely be forced to halt any serious discussions with all involved parties, until after the season.
The current contract between the NFL and it's television partners including, FOX, CBS, ABC, and ESPN goes as follows: Sunday afternoon games on FOX and CBS, Sunday night games on ESPN, and Monday night games on ABC. FOX and ABC each have the broadcast rights to three Super Bowls, while CBS has the rights to two Super Bowls (their second Super Bowl telecast was this past season). FOX will broadcast this year's Super Bowl, followed by ABC, which then ends the current television rights contract.
Rumors began not too long ago, that Disney might considering moving Monday Night Football to ESPN in the new television contract. ABC continues to lose over $100 million a year televising Monday Night Football, despite the program continuing to be one of the highest-rated programs on network television. ABC is not the only network that continues to lose money by broadcasting NFL games. Both FOX and CBS continue to lose money each year, as well.
The NFL is not the only sport in which stations lose money off of. NBC lost millions of dollars while broadcasting the NBA. That itself had a lot of influence as to why NBC decided not to retain the broadcasting rights. FOX has lost money from their broadcasting deal with Major League Baseball, and even today, ABC continues to lose money by broadcasting the NBA.
The NHL was an even worse situation for ABC, which prompted them not to renew their television deal with the league. Asides from ESPN, the NHL will also air on NBC. What makes it interesting is, NBC is not paying the rights to televise the games. Instead, the NHL is paying NBC to broadcast the games. That's a huge difference. How that formula is what the NHL has resorted to, do not expect that to ever happen with the NFL.
In my opinion, if Monday Night Football moves to ESPN, it will not necessarily be the end of the world. I would still prefer for it to stay on ABC, however. When a sporting event, such as football, baseball, or basketball takes stage in prime time on network television, it makes the event feel special. That is the same reason I hate the continued idea to air championship games, such as the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, on cable television.
The situation concerning the NFL's other partners, CBS and FOX, still remains to be seen. It remains unlikely that NBC will attempt to retain a Sunday afternoon package, as the station claims they have lost too much money while previously televising NFL games from the previous contract. It makes sense to also consider that NBC carries NASCAR races on Sundays until November, causing further conflict.
The only idea out there when considering NBC is that the network might be interested in acquiring a Sunday night football package. If Monday Night Football moved, would ESPN still carry Sunday night games? Would ABC? Many questions remain unanswered.
Unless there is a major shock, I would expect CBS and FOX to continue broadcasting Sunday afternoon games.
There have been rumblings of tweaking the start times for Sunday afternoon games. In my opinion, I believe the best situation is to have the early games begin at 1:00 PM EST, just as they do now. Secondly, instead of having the late games begin at 4:00 PM EST, I would start them at either 4:15 or 4:30. That way, there is more if a gap in the event that a game from the early games go longer.
Through the first six years of the current television contract, I would have to say that FOX has had the best coverage. FOX NFL Sunday's pre-game has consistently beat CBS's The NFL Today pre-game.
The NFL Today has made plenty of changes to their studio cast year after year, including another major shakeup this year. This season, Greg Gumbel will be the new studio host, while previous host Jim Nantz will move with Phil Simms as the number one broadcast team. Gumbel previously hosted a NFL pre-game show while with NBC six years ago.
The NFL Today has gotten better year by year, slowly, with a new line of co-hosts. The recent additions of Dan Marino and Deion Sanders provided a much-needed spark to the show. It remains to be seen how Shannon Sharpe's replacement of Sanders will influence the changes made to the show. The complete cast of The NFL Today, will include Greg Gumbel, Dan Marino, Boomer Esiason, and Shannon Sharpe.
ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown continues to be a great program for NFL fans. However, one can only take so much of the show-style that Chris Berman and Stuart Scott include. Other than that, Sunday NFL Countdown is a solid show, but I sometimes get a little bored with a two-hour program like that.
It will be interesting to see how things change once the television contract expires in 2006. While discussions won't get serious until after this season, you can expect more rumors to surface, which will only make the situation more interesting.
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