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NFL Network Is Can't-See TV
Roger Goodell is faced with fact that millions of fans won't be able to see up to eight games on the league's network.
(By Jonathan Daniel -- Getty Images)
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The league's TV deals with Fox, CBS, NBC, ESPN and DirecTV are worth an average of about $3.7 billion per season. When the owners passed up hundreds of millions of dollars in additional annual rights fees to put the package on the NFL Network beginning last season, the idea was to try to develop a business asset that would be more valuable in the long run than the rights fees being bypassed. So far, the results have been less than expected. The NFL Network reaches about 35 million U.S. households, most of them via satellite providers. Goodell said last month that the league's leaders had hoped to have the channel in about 50 million households by now.
But several owners said at the meeting in Philadelphia that they remained committed to the NFL Network.
"You're going to see continued support, a continued effort," said Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, chairman of the NFL Network. "We're here. The NFL Network is here. It's part of the NFL. It's going to work."
Said Patriots owner Robert Kraft, the chairman of the broadcasting committee: "It has a strategic fit for us. We still believe in it. We'll work things out eventually."
Goodell said the league is willing to negotiate with the cable companies but won't settle for anything less than digital basic distribution. The NFL has struck deals with 240 other carriers that don't charge an additional fee for the channel, Goodell said.
Goodell was asked at that owners' meeting if he thought fans would be angrier at the NFL or at cable companies if they won't be able to watch the Patriots-Giants game on Dec. 29.
"I think the reality is," Goodell said, "they'd probably be angry at all of us."
