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Is the Average Fan Being Priced Out of the NFL?
The fragmentation of the NFL’s media deal has a cost, and it is being paid by its fans
It’s a brisk autumn day, the leaves are falling silently on the grass outside. Inside, you are turning on your TV and sitting on your couch. It’s Sunday, and this time of the year means that you get to watch your favorite football team. You have your jersey on, the snacks are ready, and the drinks are cold. All that’s left is to turn on the game. As you grab the remote, you pause and ask yourself a question that many others have in recent years: “what app do I need to have to watch this game”?
This season the NFL will be broadcast on eight different networks, many of them are paid streaming services that will have their own exclusive games. In addition to games on CBS, FOX, and YouTube TV (which has the rights to the league’s Sunday Ticket package for out-of-market games), the NFL will be airing games on Amazon Prime, Peacock, Netflix, ESPN+, and Paramount Plus. This shift has been criticized by many fans and yet it seems that the NFL is intent on continuing to offer exclusive games to more streamers as time goes on. In chasing the money from increasingly tech centric broadcasting partners, one is left to wonder if the average fan is slowly being priced out of professional football.
