More NFL Revenue soon

[CaliforniaCheez]

From USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football ... tech_x.htm

The NFL's five-year, $120 million Internet deal with CBS SportsLine and AOL expires in May, opening a big window to aggressively jump-start such visions. In addition to the current Internet partners and TV networks that carry the games, the NFL is engaged in talks with a who's who of companies (such as Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple, Sony and Google) vying to be the Internet partner for the nation's most popular sports league.

But a souped-up NFL.com is just the beginning of efforts to grow the league's product across non-traditional mediums. For fans, aka consumers, this means new ways to devour the sport with the proliferation of high-tech products.

"When you want it, where you want it," says Brian Rolapp, the NFL's vice president for media strategy. "That's a powerful driving force."

Already, there are video-on-demand features on league and team websites. As part of the NFL's five-year, $600 million deal with Sprint, highlights, statistical data and programming from The NFL Network can be viewed on the tiny screens of cellphones.

Later this year, extensive offerings from the archives of NFL Films will be available for purchased download. Sprint will take it up a notch in the second year of its deal, transmitting highlights from 1 p.m. ET games as quickly as 4 p.m. on Sundays and adding such features for users as instant stats updates for fantasy football teams programmed into the phones.
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I fear a lot of what is free today will be costly in the future. Remember when Field Pass was free?

Subscriptions for NFL.com and Packers.com (perhaps you can get a discount for subcribing to both)

Games only on NFL network or pay per view.

Who wants the Press conference of Terrell Owens signing with Dallas downloaded to their cellphone and have it announced in your pocket while you are at work?

I blame Jerry Jones, Daniels Snyder, and Javon Walker types.

It will make a huge difference between winning and losing. How many Lion and Cardinal fans will continue to be gouged for money before they just quit being franchise fans but NFL fans?

 

[big3]

When I heard about the NFL network simoulcasting (sp) games this year that was my first thought. How long before all NFL games only show on a premium network. The bs part is you know they are already making a killing on commercials from the normal networks. And you know damn well the games broadcast on nfl network aren't going to be commercial free. It's double dipping if you ask me. Advertisers pay us for commercials, and fans pay us for the game. brilliant. I have a feeling if that happens I will no longer be watching my favorite sport on tv. Some of the rules in the nfl are making a joke out of the game already.

 

[CaliforniaCheez]

Here is some more bad news along those lines(pun intended).

Pro Football Talk article excerpt

In a move that is drawing barely a blip given the various other developments coming out of the ownership meetings in Florida, the NFL has decided to ban from the sidelines of all games the various local television stations that typically send a guy with a camera to the stadium.

The move, according to the Detroit News, was intended by the NFL to "protect its property rights and remove some of the congestion on the sidelines."

Some of our contacts in the media view it differently.

"This greatly affects us and dozens of stations around the country who do numerous news shows, talk shows, etc.," said one industry source. "If you look on the sidelines of NFL games, there are probably 30 to 50 of those local videographers shooting. . . . Looks like the NFL Network is turning into the behemoth we all feared."

We agree.

Frankly, we don't buy the notion that the local cameras add to any congestion or confusion. Instead, we think that this is all about limiting the available images of the National Football League's primary product, giving only NFL Films and the NFL Network the ability to supplement the shots generated by the television coverage of each game.

See end of this article.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... 004/SPORTS