NFL plans to go commercial by selling off Thursday games

It has been decided by the National Football League that the next “regular season” will be broadcast via auctioned media. This news has led to a war among the bidders to get hold of the deal to this highly popular sporting event.

All the discussions are held internally and none of the ‘early stage’ information is being made public according to the NFL media executive vice president and the president cum CEO of the NFL ‘Network’, Steve Bornstein.

Bornstein further said that the ‘Thursday night games’ package selling will not affect the slot that NFL decides to keep for the ‘live games’ for its own Network. This ‘cable channel’ regularly broadcasts ‘Thursday regular-season’ games which are 13 in number, to 72 million and more homes.

Owing to the “live’ games, the NFL ‘Network’ has grown ever since its inception in the year 2003 with a total of 11.5 million people subscribing to this channel. In 2006, it moved on to show eight ‘live games’ in a single season and further to 13 games in one season in the year 2012.

Other schedules inclusive of the channel are the “NFL Total Access” interview and news program and the college players’ annual draft coverage.

Today, NFL ‘Network’ makes subscription charges of $1.13 for a single subscriber on a monthly basis and this is a massive increase from 40 cent per subscriber since its beginning in the year 2006. The estimated cost for ads that it will sell this year is $236.7 million.

The annual revenue to be generated by the channel in 2013 is assessed to be $1.2 billion according to experts. ‘Yum brand’s KFC’, ‘Sears’, ‘Volkswagen’ and ‘Pizza Hut’ are among its top advertisers.

Both TNT and TBS, operated and owned by ‘Turner Broadcasting System Unit’ by Time Warner, are interested in this new proposed package. Other interested parties include Fox Sports 1, major sports broadcasting channel. It is also guessed that YouTube will figure among the bidders.

Sports consultant, Ganis, says, “NFL rights are unique in that people seek out the games on whatever channel they’re on, and don’t have to be spoon-fed promotions as they are with other entertainment or sports programs,” being an expert on TV ‘sports deal’ negotiations. “The NFL can help make a channel much more successful.”

According to Ganis, the distribution can take place between the existing game slates or the ‘late-season’ games held on Fridays and Saturdays at night.

Bornstein has kept his mouth shut on the issues of the discussion regarding the satellite operator ‘DirecTV’ and the League’s $1 billion deal which is on the verge of expiry. Its broadcast rights for “NFL Sunday Ticket” may or may not remain.

Conclusion:

The existing “DirecTV’ provision makes it possible for subscribers to view the football matches even when they are not in the ‘local market’. It is fairly probable based on news given by ‘DirecTV’ that the contract will be renewed. So, all that we can do as viewers, is wait eagerly for the changes that is to take place soon.

Author’s Bio: Mary is a proficient writer who has expertise on sports. She regularly contributes articles on world cup tickets and other topics.