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From Mike Florio's ProFootballTalk:
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SPECTER TAKING AIM AT NFL ANTITRUST EXEMPTION

Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said during a hearing on Thursday that he will sponsor legislation to strip the NFL of its antitrust exemption for broadcast rights, which would as a practical matter prohibit the NFL from negotiating global broadcast rights for all of its teams.

Such a development could be disastrous for the NFL, since the lifeblood of the league is the giant pool of money generated by the 32-franchise broadcast contracts.

And it would pave the way for teams like the Cowboys to cut Notre Dame-type deals, which might ultimately fall beyond the scope of revenue sharing.

"Wouldn't consumers be better off if teams could negotiate?" Specter said. "This is the NFL exerting its power right down to the last nickel."

The catalyst for the current confrontation is the league's efforts to place NFL Network on as many cable systems as possible, preferably as part of the basic package. The league, some believe, is being too greedy as it uses its regular-season games as leverage to dictate financial terms to the cable systems.

And, to date, it appears that NFLN's efforts to expand its profile by airing games has blown up in its face. The games aren't being widely viewed outside of the involved team's local markets, because not many households have access to the station. And there really hasn't been the kind of "I want my MTV!" hue and cry from a football-viewing public that gets more than its full fix on Sunday afternoon, Sunday night, and Monday night.
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Long run, revenue sharing is what keeps a professional football franchise in Green Bay. The Dan Snyder's and the Jerry Jones' don't give a rats *** about the Green Bay Packers. The Packers might be able to cut a deal with someone, but it would be dwarfed by what the large market stations would do.

The salary cap is 100 million now, so if the revenue sharing went a different direction, there's no way the Packers could generate the money needed to stay competitive. It would evolve in a Milwaukee Brewers-New York Yankees type of deal.
 

CaliforniaCheez

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This is a politician looking out for a corporate sponsor of his election campaigns. Cable operaters are resisting the NFL telling them how to run their business.

The NFL wants their programing access to the cable systems. There is a market value for that. However, the NFL wants its network as part of the "basic subscription package". They also want a sizable chunk of the revenues.

The problem is that the NFL network programing is expensive and would raise basic cable rates by a sizable percentage greatly affecting subcription rates and revenue.

The cable operators know premium programing when they see it and want to treat the NFL network as a premium channel.

I'm longing for the day when technology allows for an a la carte menu of television programing instead of packages or a compromise of permitting a "chinese menu" of allowing selections within a subgroups.

10 good (for me) channels are better than a hundred like QVC, Univision, and Lifetime networks
 

longtimefan

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Cali,
There was some talk about that exact thing last year, and this is what I found just now...If you want to read more about it, just do google search for cable a la carte

A la carte cable


"FCC: Let users set cable TV lineups
By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY
In a sharp reversal, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday that the agency now thinks cable companies should stop forcing people to subscribe to bundles of channels and give them the option of choosing individual channels"
 

P@ck66

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Cali,

I'm waiting for the 24 hour "Sanford and Son" channel and "WKRP" to come back too.

But I don't think it will.

The cable companies have us over a barrel, unfortunately!
 

Bobby Roberts

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Cable companies crying about NFLN sounds like a bunch of bs to me. I've got DirecTV and NFLN comes in as a basic part of their lineup in the least expensive programming package. DishNetwork has the same set-up. Both are less than basic cable.

So why would adding the NFLN be a significant increase to the cost of cable?
 

porky88

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GB generates enough money from merchandise and tickets. They are sold out on the season ticket list for another 50 years. I don't think there is much concern of the Packers generating enough money. Even though they have no owner they are still one of the most profitable organization in the NFL.

Also we are signed on the cap for another 5 or 6 years. They just reached an agreement last year. It's really nothing to worry that much about at least not yet.
 

Zero2Cool

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Bobby Roberts said:
Cable companies crying about NFLN sounds like a bunch of bs to me. I've got DirecTV and NFLN comes in as a basic part of their lineup in the least expensive programming package. DishNetwork has the same set-up. Both are less than basic cable.

So why would adding the NFLN be a significant increase to the cost of cable?

To confirm this since I work for Dish Network.

You get the America's Top 60 programming for $29.99. That does not include locals and can be had with two tv setup. That's less than what I pay for cable in my apartment and I don't get NFLN!!
 

longtimefan

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GB generates enough money from merchandise and tickets. They are sold out on the season ticket list for another 50 years. I don't think there is much concern of the Packers generating enough money. Even though they have no owner they are still one of the most profitable organization in the NFL.

Also we are signed on the cap for another 5 or 6 years. They just reached an agreement last year. It's really nothing to worry that much about at least not yet.

Your right porky..

in aug forbes listed the packers as number 13 with a value of 911 million..
 

dxbfan

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GB generates enough money from merchandise and tickets. They are sold out on the season ticket list for another 50 years. I don't think there is much concern of the Packers generating enough money. Even though they have no owner they are still one of the most profitable organization in the NFL.

Also we are signed on the cap for another 5 or 6 years. They just reached an agreement last year. It's really nothing to worry that much about at least not yet.

As of June 2006:

National TV revenue: $87.3 million, up from $84.2 million.

Home game net receipts: $28.4 million, up from $26.6 million.

Packer Pro Shop: $17.5 million, up from $17.2 million.

Atrium revenue, including revenue from the Packer Hall of Fame: $4.7 million, down from $5.9 million.

Other marketing revenue: $19.2 million, up from $18 million.

Broadcast revenue is more than 50% of total revenue.
 

porky88

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porky88 said:
GB generates enough money from merchandise and tickets. They are sold out on the season ticket list for another 50 years. I don't think there is much concern of the Packers generating enough money. Even though they have no owner they are still one of the most profitable organization in the NFL.

Also we are signed on the cap for another 5 or 6 years. They just reached an agreement last year. It's really nothing to worry that much about at least not yet.

As of June 2006:

National TV revenue: $87.3 million, up from $84.2 million.

Home game net receipts: $28.4 million, up from $26.6 million.

Packer Pro Shop: $17.5 million, up from $17.2 million.

Atrium revenue, including revenue from the Packer Hall of Fame: $4.7 million, down from $5.9 million.

Other marketing revenue: $19.2 million, up from $18 million.

Broadcast revenue is more than 50% of total revenue.

TV revenue makes the majority of the teams the most money. You'd see a lot of teams drop significantly like the Packers. If the NFL loses Green Bay then in all likely hood they’d lose 5 to 10 more teams and it would be a 24 team league. Unless everyone just moves their team to a bigger market and there is no guarantee that football actually works there. Los Angeles has been the site of a football team before and it never lasts. I think unless the NFL wants a smaller league everything will be find. If this was as big as news as some are trying to make it out to be it would be all over ESPN or NFL Network and even the main media news networks by now even if it can’t happen for another few years. The Packers are going to be okay. They can never go out of buisness unless they don't draw profit.
 

Anubis

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Atrium revenue down by 20%, fans not hungry or thirsty anymore?

That figure most likely has more to do with the fans leaving before the end of the game, given the throttling the Pack has taken at home this season.

GO PACK!!!

Robert C. Hedley
 

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