The Bocker.com

Going into this weekend, the Patriots’ ultimate game in their pursuit of the perfect regular season was going to be played without national television coverage. The game versus the New York Giants this Saturday was to be broadcast on NFL Network, a channel not carried on most cable plans. While Pats-Giants was to be showed locally on basic cable channels, the vast majority of football fans would not be able to see the Pats chase professional sports’ greatest team record. This was until Roger Goddell and the NFL stepped up and got NBC AND CBS to pick the NFL Network feed of this game nationally. This savvy decision making in this instance is just another example of why the NFL is the most popular and profitable sport in America.

By having NBC and CBS pick up the NFL Network (NFLN) transmission of the Patriots-Giants game, the NFL wins on every level. The league keeps the fans happy, because in the NFL’s initial decision to only broadcast the game on NFLN, much negative reaction was expressed by fans nationwide. Secondly, the NFL gets a free platform to show America their new media venture, NFL Network. This simulcast will put NFLN on the country’s two largest television networks all night this Saturday and if NFLN does a great job, the cable companies will get more pressure from fans to get the football channel added on their standard cable lineup. Lastly, on Saturday, the NFL will be showing their most hyped storyline of 2007 on three networks (including NFL Network) in every single television market. staying in this Saturday night will be hard pressed not to watch GQ Tom Brady (makes me sick), especially with Saturday Night Live still off the air due to the Television Writer’s strike. In the New York market, the nation’s largest, FOUR channels carry the game Saturday, as the Giants have an agreement with my9 (WWOR) to carry cable broadcasts of Giants games. Apparently, this extra exposure more than doubled the value of the 30-second commercial spots to be aired during the game as the NFL will charge $200,000 a spot instead of its NFLN rate of $85,000 a pop.

I personally don’t like the NFL. I think the salary cap was implemented to force parity by lowering the overall quality of teams. I hate the “No-Fun” League rules regarding on-field celebrations. I think its hypocritical to label a player a rebelrouser and a lockerroom cancer when he holds out for his contract demands while cutting him after an injury is just part of the business. That said, no league knows how to win in business like the NFL.

If MLB had been given the same predicament (or opportunity in the NFL’s eyes), I’m fairly certain that Bud Selig would have managed to not only prevent most fans from seeing a historic game, he probably would have allowed said game to end in a tie. And baseball would lose money all while doing so. A bit of a cheap shot from a 5-year old incident, but the point remains the same.

The above picture is from the NFL. The story on the commercial rates is from Media Week.