NFL becoming elitist (AFC, pay, tickets, wild card)

[blameyourself]

I swear this is getting a bit ridiculous.

So this morning, if I want to watch the Falcons/Jags game, I can either subscribe to ESPN+ or watch the game on Disney+ (which we happen to have) in cartoon mode. I think I'll draw the line on this one since it means missing out on maybe 2 to 3 games this year.

So now you have to have Amazon Prime for some games, ESPN+ for others, and YouTube if you want to watch others. And there are slightly upgraded services for those content with the Red Zone, which I'm not a fan of.

Lord forbid I decide to drop $500 to a grand to watch a game live this year. Seems like for those that really want to watch, you need to be in the top 5% on income level or willing to give up a week or two worth of groceries

[susancruzs]

Being older, my BIL 10 yrs. older than me, it is frustrating for him. My nephew bought him a new TV and it did not come with a regular looking remote. Now they have the streaming buttons on it, too. In his 80s, all that is clueless to him. I live in the same apt. building he does, and I hear this from other residents all the time.

I won't get on my major soapbox here, but seniors in this country supported sports for years before all these changes.

[DRob4JC]

That's where we are today.

In the past, you were subjected to only what your local network provided.

Now we have all of these options, and people expect to be able to watch whatever they want, when they want, at little or no cost. It doesn't work that way.

Are they being a little greedy in the price structure? Probably.

They want theirs... the consumer wants theirs... it is a continual tug of war.

[blameyourself]

Originally Posted by DRob4JC

That's where we are today.

In the past, you were subjected to only what your local network provided.

Now we have all of these options, and people expect to be able to watch whatever they want, when they want, at little or no cost. It doesn't work that way.

Are they being a little greedy in the price structure? Probably.

They want theirs... the consumer wants theirs... it is a continual tug of war.

Disagree. A basic cable subscription would traditionally always include a nationally televised game on a Thursday night. Same goes for the games in London that were on a major network. The NFL is getting greedy.

[sub]

Glad I'm only a fair-weather fan of one team because I'm too cheap to have more than one paid streaming service at at time.
I've yet to pay extra just to watch a football game.
No doubt the NFL is quite the racket.

[Bondurant]

This is why I finally jumped on the pirate stream train. I go to a local bar for Lions games to support a local business that has accommodated me for a decade but for all others it's a pirate stream if the rabbit ears on on the fritz.

[YAZ]

Originally Posted by Bondurant

This is why I finally jumped on the pirate stream train. I go to a local bar for Lions games to support a local business that has accommodated me for a decade but for all others it's a pirate stream if the rabbit ears on on the fritz.

CBS didn't air an AFC game in Phoenix yesterday.

We got the Rams/Colts then Cards/49ers on Fox.

[JBtwinz]

It might have been the very late 90’s or early 2000’s but there was an interview with one of the long standing owners of an NFL team who predicted that sometime in the next twenty years he foresaw fans having to pay to watch their favorite football teams. At the time I don’t even think the internet and streaming was too viable so I took the article with a bit of skepticism.

Here we are some 20 years later and we see You Tube, Amazon, Hulu and others competing with the old school original broadcasting groups. I can’t imagine how much will change in the next 5 years. The NFL is selling viewing rights to the highest bidders and the fans are now paying the price.

[JSOFFLine]

I normally don't turn on the television on weekend mornings but happened to on Sunday.

I was shocked to say the least. ES*N had the pre-game like normal, then shortly before the game they threw it to the booth announcers when the lead guy said, "you're watching a live look-in" and to see the game tune into es*n plus.

They were magnanimous enough to show us the Kickoff and first play from scrimmage and then back to the studio where they then told us how we could subscribe to their streaming service. I actually sensed some tension when that announcement was being made, like they knew how stupid the whole thing was.

Now I'm solidly in middle age but I remember when I was younger being treated like that by one or two female "friends" , I think there's a phrase for that with a color in it, but I digress.


Never thought I'd experience that from a sports broadcaster but here we are. This is just a taste of what's to come.

People may not want to hear a soccer story here but bear with me. For a long time (and continuing for a while) NBC has had the domestic rights to Premier league soccer from England. At first they did a great job. Very fair, would talk about most every team, relatively equally, show a lot of games and all the best teams and matchups.

This was back when they had NBC Sports Network, which used to be Versus, which used to be Outdoor Life Network that always showed bicycle racing, again, but I digress.

For a few years before they shut down NBCSN they started to move some games, and many really good ones, behind the paywall on Peacock. Once they shut down NBCSN they moved to USA and sometimes CNBC. This really isn't an excuse for me because NBC has so many networks under them, including USA, Bravo, CNBC, MSNBC and a handful of others. They have the ability to show literally 10 games and would do this on the last day of the season when all the games are played simultaneously and the final order and relegation for the bottom three is determined. So NBC has no excuse.

I'm an Arsenal fan, there's this rivalry with a team called Tottenham, located literally a few miles from one another in North London. If you think Bears/Packers is a long-standing, fierce rivalry seperated by 130 miles or whatever you should check this rivalry out. Or really any of the long-standing and highly tense rivalries that exist in English soccer.

But for 2 whole YEARS I wasn't allowed to watch those 2 yearly games without Peacock. Could you imagine a broadcaster like Fox/CBS taking Bears/Packers or Steelers/Browns, or Dallas/Washington off the air and behind a paywall? Or other big matchups like Chiefs/Bills or Dallas/San Francisco.

Would people take it? I suspect a lot of people would just pony up the cash but I never did for Peacock.

Result: I never pay attention to the Premier League and haven't for several years. I used to watch almost every game, 4-6 every weekend, for years, and now I never watch. It wasn't just the North London Derby but other big matches between the bigger teams.

It's just that I can't depend on seeing a good game I'm interested in so I figure why try anymore. In fact, the NL Derby was just played this weekend and again, behind the paywall.

So #$% you NBC, you've lost a fan forever. I assume this is only going to happen more frequently. Isn't one of this years NFL Wild Card games behind a paywall?

I know I have no interest in having so many different streaming services. MLB has done this as well with exclusive games on both Peacock and Apple TV.

I'd really like to lessen my sports watching and have been doing that for a while now. Sports just aren't the great thing with all the commercials and reviews and hype instead of just the games. There's a clear lack of fundamentals, in the NFL little pre-season, o-line play is terrible, and in baseball we're celebrating a guy who might hit 35 homers but has an average below .200. And yet a player like Stan Musial never made more than $100,000 in a year.

Sports has gotten a bit ridiculous.

[burdell]

Elitist? Or just plain greedy?

I lost a lot of interest in the NFL when teams started offering me the right to buy a 'personal seat license' that would allow me the right to then buy season tickets at inflate prices.

If it's not on the networks or one of the basic ESPN channels I won't see it and don't really care all that much.

On a side note, I think it's really stupid that ten men do a choreographed dance routine in the end zone after scoring and are applauded while one player says something to another and gets a 'taunting' penalty.