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| Graham Couch, Assistant Editor |
Dumb TV rule robs NFL fans
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A packet of Kool-Aid: 69 cents. Two Chicago-style pizzas: $16. One old football to toss around with friends during commercials: (once was) $20. Watching six uninterrupted hours of football on a Sunday afternoon with three of your best friends: priceless.
Every Sunday in autumn, there is a zone from noon to 6 p.m. that is so precious it is designated for pro football. Nothing else important goes in this time slot.
However, due to a dumb 20-year-old NFL rule, football fans are finding themselves watching more and more figure skating during commercials.
Until last week I always assumed that every market received three games each week. Either FOX or CBS had the double header. For at least three hours during the “zone” on Sundays, two football games are televised. This gives the viewer options, extra excitement and more importantly, something to do during commercials.
Apparently, this is not always the case. According to a representative at the league office, the NFL has a policy that allows only one game to be televised on a network in a given market if the team that represents that market is home and the game is a sellout and on television.
Did you catch all that? Well, even if you did, it makes no sense. For example, on Sunday, Nov. 14, the Bears were home against the Vikings. The game was a sellout, and thus it was televised in the Chicago area. However, because of this NFL policy, viewers in the Chicago market did not receive a 3 p.m. game on FOX, even though it was FOX’s week to host the double-header. Instead, a post game show was shown.
This also affected what this market saw on CBS that day. I could not confirm it, but you can bet that had the Bears been on the road, the Chicago area would have seen the Dolphins-Bills game at noon instead of the Raiders-Chargers game at 3 p.m. Who would you rather see, two teams near the top of the AFC and one of the games’ best rivalries (Dolphins-Bills), or two average teams dueling it out on the West Coast?
Had the Bears been on the road, Chicago would have also received the 3 p.m. Packers-Cowboys game as well. Wow, what an afternoon of football that would have been. Bears-Vikings at noon, with Dolphins-Bills on the channel-return, and Packers-Cowboys at 3 p.m. I am getting sweaty just thinking about it.
Instead, the NFL fans in Chicago were robbed. Sure the six hour time span was good, but it could have been better.
Why wasn’t it? That’s where the situation gets cloudy.
The explanation given by several NFL representatives was that if they televised a second game on the same network as the home team in that market, no one would go to the game. They would stay home and watch it on TV–-apparently, the advertising rights required this rule.
Give me a break. If the rule only takes affect if the game is sold out, then how would showing a second game affect attendance? Whether a team is home or on the road should have no bearing on how many games are televised. The claim that advertising rights force this, is just an attempt by the NFL to confuse people by speaking in a language most don’t understand. Think about it, why would advertisers not want a second game? After the post game show, do “Touched by an Angel” reruns really bring in better ratings?
The League office knows this is a pointless policy. They can’t even explain it.
Tickets and television revenue pay the salaries of everyone associated with the NFL. The NFL should remember it is the fans who make it all possible.
Questions? Comments? E-mail Ghcouch@hotmail.com |
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