About Opentopia
Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

NFL on television

Encyclopedia : N : NF : NFL : NFL on television

The television rights to broadcast National Football League games are the most lucrative and expensive rights of any sport. In fact, it was television that brought pro football into prominence in the modern era of technology. Since then, NFL broadcasts have become among the most-watched programs on American television, and the fortunes of entire networks have rested on owning NFL broadcasting rights.

Contents

Broadcasting history

From infancy to national success

The "Greatest Game Ever Played" boosted the popularity of the NFL on television.
Enlarge
The "Greatest Game Ever Played" boosted the popularity of the NFL on television.

From the very beginning of the television era, NBC was a prime innovator in football coverage. They became the first major television network to cover an NFL game, when on October 22, 1939, they televised a game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

In 1950, the Los Angeles Rams and the Washington Redskins became the first NFL teams to have all their home and road games televised. In that same year, other teams made deals to have selected games broadcasted on TV. The DuMont Network then paid a rights fee of $75,000 to televise the 1951 NFL Championship Game across the entire United States.

By 1955, NBC became the televised home to the NFL Championship Game, paying $100,000 to the league. The 1958 NFL Championship Game played at Yankee Stadium between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants went into sudden death overtime. This game, known since as the "Greatest Game Ever Played," was seen by many throughout the country and is credited with increasing the popularity of professional football in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

CBS later became the first network to televise selected NFL regular season games in 1956.

War with the AFL

When the rival American Football League (AFL) began in 1960, they signed a 5-year contract with ABC to cover their games. This became the first ever cooperative television plan for professional football, in which the proceeds of the contract were divided equally among member clubs. ABC and the AFL also introduced moving, on-field cameras (as opposed to the fixed midfield cameras of CBS and the NFL), and were the first to have players "miked" during broadcast games.

The NFL followed suit in 1962 with its own revenue sharing plan after CBS agreed to telecast all regular season games for an annual fee of $4.65 million. CBS' fee later increased to $14.1 million per year in 1964, and $18.8 million per year in 1966.

With NBC paying the AFL $36 million in 1965 to televise its games, and the increased, heated battle over college prospects, both leagues negotiated a merger agreement on June 8, 1966. Although they would not officially merge into one combined league until 1970, one of the conditions of the agreement was that the winners of each league's championship game would meet in a contest to determine the "world champion of football".

The first ever AFL-NFL World Championship Game was played on January 15, 1967. Because CBS held the rights to nationally televise NFL games and NBC had the rights to broadcast AFL games, it was decided to have both of them cover that first game. The next three AFL-NFL World Championship Games, later renamed the Super Bowl, were then divided by the two networks: CBS broadcasted Super Bowls II and IV while NBC covered III.

Post AFL-NFL Merger

When the AFL and the NFL officially merged in 1970, the combined league divided its teams into the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). It was then decided that CBS would televise all NFC teams (including playoff games) while NBC all AFC teams. For interconference games, CBS would broadcast them if the visiting team was from the NFC and NBC would carry them when the visitors were from the AFC. The two networks also divided up the Super Bowl on a yearly rotation.

Also, ABC agreed to televise one regular season game per week on Monday night. ABC aired its first edition of Monday Night Football on September 21, 1970. MNF itself pushed the limits of football coverage with its halftime highlights segment, occasional banter from Howard Cosell and Dennis Miller, and celebrity guests such as John Lennon, Arnold Schwarzenegger and President Clinton. During its' 36-year run on ABC, Monday Night Football consistently ranked among the most popular primetime broadcasts each week during the NFL season.

As the league's broadcasters, ABC, CBS, and NBC had their own talent. Announcers such as Cosell, Frank Gifford, and Al Michaels (from ABC); Pat Summerall and John Madden (from CBS); and Curt Gowdy, Dick Enberg, Marv Albert, Jim Simpson, Kyle Rote and Jim Lampley (from NBC), all had their own unique analysis of the game. Even the individual networks' football coverage was innovative. For example, CBS' The NFL Today was the first pre-game show to have a female co-hostess, (Phyllis George); and NBC made history in the 1980s with announcerless football, one-announcer football, and even the first female play-by-play football announcer (which in its own way, set the mold for female sportscasters of today).

Meanwhile, the Super Bowl became a yearly ratings blockbuster, allowing the network that airs it to generate millions of dollars in advertising revenue. Four of the ten highest rated television broadcasts of all-time (in the U.S.) are Super Bowls. [#endnote_toptelecasts] When the league signed a new 5-year TV contract with the three networks in 1982, it allowed ABC to enter into the Super Bowl rotation; Super Bowl XIX was the first that ABC televised. Since then, the network that televises each Super Bowl is determined by the TV contracts that the league negotiates with all of its broadcasters.

Expansion to cable and satellite television

The middle of the 1980s ushered in the cable era, and the NFL was eager to exploit that opportunity in 1987.

ESPN became the first cable network to broadcast regular season NFL games. Chris Berman helped redefine the pre- and post-game shows when he launched NFL Countdown and NFL Primetime, and they have since become the top-rated pre- and post-game shows on television. The cable network's contract to show ESPN Sunday Night Football marked a turning point for ESPN, transforming it from a small cable network to a marketing empire.

When ESPN first started televising NFL games in 1987, it only broadcasted Sunday night games primarily during the second half of the season. Meanwhile, ABC, CBS, and NBC maintained their rights to Monday Night Football, the NFC, and the AFC, respectively.

By 1990, Turner's TNT network started to broadcast Sunday night games for the first half of the season. The combined 1990 contracts with ABC, CBS, ESPN, NBC, and TNT totaled to $3.6 billion ($900 million per year), the largest in TV history. ABC was also given the rights to televise two playoff games per year, which was made possible after the league expanded it playoff format to include more teams.

In 1994, the league signed an exclusivity agreement with the direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service DirecTV to launch NFL Sunday Ticket, a satellite television subsciption service that offers every regular season NFL game.

Broadcast realignments

When new TV contracts were signed in December 1993, CBS (which had been home to NFC games for 38 years) lost their rights to the then-fledging FOX Network. FOX offered a then-record $1.58 billion to the NFL over four years for the rights, significantly more than the $290 million CBS was willing to pay. FOX was only seven years old and had no sports division, but it began building its own coverage by hiring many former CBS personalities such as Summerall and Madden. FOX's NFL rights ownership made the network a major player in American television by giving it many new viewers (and affiliates) and a platform to advertise its other shows. In the meantime, CBS lost several affiliates (mainly to FOX), and ratings for its other programming languished.

Meanwhile, NBC's rebound in their overall ratings in both the 1980s and 1990s (after years in the bottom of the ratings cellar) were attributed in part to its continuing coverage of the NFL. But with television contract re-negotiations in early 1998 ushering in the era of multi-billion dollar broadcasting agreements, an era of pro football broadcasting would soon came to an unceremonious conclusion. CBS, stung by FOX's surprise bid four years earlier, aggressively sought to reacquire some broadcasting rights. CBS agreed to pay $4 billion over eight years ($500 million per season) to air American Conference games. NBC, meanwhile, had indicated a desire to bid for Monday Night Football rights in 1998, but gave up when the financial stakes skyrocketed. And so, after six decades, NBC, the network that helped define pro football on television, lost its rights to air the NFL, thus marking the beginning of a slow decline for the Peacock network's sports division.

The other networks also signed eight-year deals in 1998. FOX extended its NFC deal by agreeing to a $4.4 billion contract ($550 million per season). ABC retained its longtime rights to Monday Night Football by also paying $4.4 billion over eight years. And ESPN agreed to a $4.8 billion ($600 million a season) deal to become the sole cable broadcaster of NFL games, marking an end with the league's association with TNT. And like previous TV contracts, the coverage of the Super Bowl was divided between the broadcast networks.

Establishment of the Thursday Kickoff Game

In 2002, the NFL began scheduling a Thursday night special opening "Kickoff" game, which included a pregame concert to start the season. The first one, featuring the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants and televised on ESPN, was held on September 5, 2002 largely to celebrate New York City's resilience in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks [link]. The game was a huge success that the next three Kickoff Games from 2003 to 2005 were given to ABC.

Financial losses leads to another realignment

Currently, the NFL's TV broadcasters have suffered annual financial losses because advertising revenue is unable to meet the cost incurred by the purchase of broadcast rights.

Nevertheless, the next broadcast contract, which will begin in the 2006 season, will result in a sizeable increase in total rights fees. Both FOX and CBS renewed their Sunday afternoon broadcast packages through 2011, in both cases with modest increases. Furthermore, the league and DirecTV signed a five year extension to their exclusivity deal on NFL Sunday Ticket.

But despite relatively high, if declining, TV ratings, ABC decided to end its relationship with the NFL after losing significant sums of money on Monday Night Football. In addition to the fees issue, part of this decision may have been the result of a resurgent ABC primetime entertainment schedule during the 2004-05 season, particularly on Sunday evening; thus ABC would be unable to satisfy the league's reported preference for a Sunday night game on broadcast television as opposed to Monday.

Because of that, Monday Night Football will move to ESPN, with the cable network paying a large sum of $1.1 billion per year from 2006 to 2014 for the rights to the lucrative franchise. The cable network's coverage will begin at 7 p.m. ET with a 90-minute pregame show, hosted by Chris Berman, Tom Jackson, Michael Irvin, and Steve Young. The game will then begin at 8:30 p.m.. Joe Theismann, Mike Tirico and Tony Kornheiser will be in the broadcast booths for the games, while Suzy Kolber and Michele Tafoya will host from the sidelines. Also, Stuart Scott will host the halftime show, originating from ESPN's studios in Bristol, Connecticut. In addition, other shows such as SportsCenter and Pardon The Interruption will be on location from the site of the game that week.

Meanwhile, NBC, after losing their AFC package to CBS in 1997, has reclaimed its share of the NFL broadcast rights with a deal worth an average of $650 million per year from 2006 to 2012. This new deal will give them the Sunday night package, which they will rename as Football Night in America, as well as the Super Bowl in 2009 and 2012, a likely means of reversing its current ratings slump. NBC's coverage also includes the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, two other pre-season games, the first two Wild Card playoff games of each postseason, and the annual Thursday opening Kickoff Game. The network will also have flexibility in selecting games in the final seven weeks of the season, consulting with the league and both CBS and Fox as to move one game to the primetime spot in November and December.

Bob Costas is scheduled to be the host of the pregame show, with Cris Collinsworth as his co-host. Currently, they serve as co-hosts of HBO's Inside the NFL, and would likely continue in their present posts. Al Michaels has been signed to do play-by-play announcing for the games, while John Madden has been signed to be the game's color commentator. Former Pittsburgh Steeler running back Jerome Bettis has been named to the pregame show's cast. Andrea Kremer will serve as the sideline reporter, and will also contribute to the studio show. [link] The pregame program will air at 7 p.m. ET and the game coverage will follow at 8:15 p.m. ET.

In addition, the network that carries the Super Bowl will also broadcast the Pro Bowl on the Saturday night following the championship game. In the calendar year 2007, CBS will broadcast both games, followed by Fox in 2008, and NBC in 2009.

Meanwhile, the NFL created a separate package of games to air on its own specialty channel, the NFL Network, which the league launched in 2003. The eight-game package will consist of primetime games airing from Thanksgiving to the end of the regular season on Thursday nights (five games) and Saturday nights (three games, after the end of the college football season). Bryant Gumbel and Cris Collinsworth will broadcast the NFL Network games.

The style of pro football broadcasting is ever changing, with its female hostesses/sideline reporters, visual first-down markers, advanced graphics, and new multi-camera angles, all of which will carry football telecasts into the new century.

Thanksgiving Day games

The NFL is a major part of Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States. The Detroit Lions have hosted a game every Thanksgiving Day since 1934 (with the exception of 1939–1944 due to World War II), and they have been nationally televised since 1962. In 1966, the NFL introduced an annual Thanksgiving game hosted by the Dallas Cowboys.

Unlike the NFL, when the AFL started holding annual Thanksgiving day games, the league circulated the game among several cities. During the 1967-69 seasons, two Thanksgiving games were televised.

After the 1970 merger, the NFL decided to keep only the traditional Detroit and Dallas games. Due to the broadcast rights since 1970, three NFC teams play on Thanksgiving, as opposed to only one AFC team. During even years, the Lions play their Thanksgiving game against an AFC team, and thus are televised by the network holding the AFC package (NBC and later CBS); the Cowboys host an NFC team and are shown by the network with the NFC package (CBS and later FOX). During odd years, Dallas hosts an AFC team and Detroit plays an NFC opponent.

When the league created its new TV package for the NFL Network in 2006, a primetime Thanksgiving night game between the Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs was scheduled. It remains to be seen if the league will begin an annual tradition of an AFC vs. AFC game, along with the traditional NFC-NFC game and the AFC-NFC game.

NFL broadcasters

List of NFL television contracts

Since 1982
Period AFC Package NFC Package Monday Night Football Sunday Night Football Total Amount
1982-86 NBC CBS ABC None 0 million/yr
1987-89 NBC CBS ABC ESPN 3 million/yr
1990-93 NBC CBS ABC TNT (1st half)
ESPN (2nd half) 		0 million/yr
1994-97 NBC FOX (5 million/yr) ABC TNT (1st half)
ESPN (2nd half) 		.1 billion/yr
1998-2005 CBS (0 million/yr) FOX (0 million/yr) ABC (0 million/yr) ESPN (0 million/yr) .2 billion/yr
2006-2011* CBS (2.5 million/yr) FOX (2.5 million/yr) ESPN (.1 billion/yr) NBC (0 million/yr) .1 billion/yr

Television policies

The NFL imposes several television and blackout policies to maximize TV ratings and to ensure that stadiums are filled and sold out.

Sunday regional coverage

Except for Monday Night Football, Sunday Night Football, games aired on the NFL Network, and other selected contests, most of the regular season games are regionally televised on Sunday afternoon by CBS and FOX. In other words, each game is only broadcasted to certain media markets in the United States instead of the entire country.

Normally, all media markets receive three games during each Sunday of the regular season: two games by the television network (either CBS or FOX) showing the "doubleheader" and one game by the network showing the "singleheader". The network with the doubleheader televises one game in the "early" time slot (1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT) and the other game in the "late" time slot (4:15 ET/1:15 p.m. PT). The network with the singleheader is also assigned games in both the early and late time slot (which is 4:05 ET/1:05 p.m. PT), but can only show one game in each market.

The designated "doubleheader" network for each Sunday is determined by the league when it creates the regular season schedule, but it is generally split equally between CBS and FOX. In determining this selection, the NFL has traditionally honored the networks' other major broadcasting commitments. For the past few decades, the league has always let CBS be the "singleheader" network during the week it televises the Men's U.S. Open Tennis final at 4:05 p.m. ET. The NFL also lets FOX (and prior to 1998, NBC) have the singleheader during the Sunday it broadcasts Major League Baseball's League Championship Series across the county during the "late" time slot.

Which games get shown in what particular markets are determined by the following factors: First, each home team's "primary media market", the market in which the team is physically located in, must televise all of the games involving the local team, provided that home games are sold out (or else, they are subject to blackout, see below). In addition, the league also designates "secondary markets", media markets adjoining primary markets, that are also required to show the local team. Generally, these secondary markets must show the road games, but are not obligated to show the designated team's home games.

In all other markets, the networks are the sole arbiters of what game gets shown where. However, they usually make their decisions after consulting with all of their local affiliates.

During the afternoon, CBS and FOX may switch a media market's game to a more competitive one, particularly when a contest becomes one-sided. For this to happen, one of the teams must be ahead by at least 18 points in the second half.

However, due to the incident involving the Heidi Game, a primary media market must show its local team's game in its entirety. This means that a primary market must continue to show its local club's game even when the contest becomes one-sided. Furthermore, if the local team's game is in the late time slot on the doubleheader network, the primary market may be required to switch coverage from the early game to the start of the late game regardless of how long the first game still is, so that the local team's contest can be shown in its entirety. This is usually accompanied by an apology that the NFL's TV policies do not allow them to show any more of the early game. For this reason, the New York Giants and New York Jets are never scheduled on the same network on the same day because they both share the same media market. The San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders are also never scheduled on the same network on the same day either.

Sunday bonus coverage

When a media market's regionally televised game ends before the others, the network (CBS or FOX) may switch to "bonus coverage" of the ending of another game. However, the league imposes a couple of restrictions that are designed to maximize the TV ratings of the late games on the doubleheader network, which tend to record the most NFL viewers during the day.

First, bonus coverage offered after any early time slot games cannot be shown past the start of the late time slot (either 4:05 or 4:15 ET). This prevents people from continuing to watch the bonus coverage instead of seeing the beginning of the late doubleheader network's game. However, the league will allow the networks to continue broadcasting a team's ongoing drive that started before the deadline. The network will then switch away as soon as the drive ends, usually accompanied by similar apology that the NFL's TV policies do not allow them to show any more of the game.

Secondly, bonus coverage cannot be shown after a late game on singleheader network because it will run in opposition to the ending of the late doubleheader network's game(s). However, the singleheader network usually schedules most of its top games in the early 1:00 ET time slot, so this does not tend to be a major issue.

Flexible-scheduling

Starting with the 2006 season, the NFL will use a "flexible-scheduling" system for the last seven weeks of the regular season. The system is designed so that the league has the flexibility in selecting games to air on Sunday night that will feature the current hottest, streaking teams.

Under the system, all Sunday games in the affected weeks will tentatively have the "early" start time of 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, except those played in the Pacific or Mountain time zones who will have the tentative "late" start time of 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT. On the Tuesday 12 days before the games, the league will move one game to the primetime slot, and possibly move one or more 1 p.m. slotted games to the 4 p.m. slots. During the last week of the season, the league could re-schedule games as late as six days before the contests so that all of the television networks will be able to broadcast a game that has playoff implications.

Nationally televised games on cable

To maximize TV ratings, games broadcasted on ESPN, and any other contest televised on cable television, are simulcast on a local broadcast station in each of the primary markets of both teams. However, in the beginning years of NFL cable coverage, ESPN Sunday Night Football games would also be shown on all the Fox-owned stations.

To date, the league has never awarded broadcasting rights of a playoff or Super Bowl game to any cable television network or DBS service.

Blackout policies

Since 1973, the NFL has maintained a blackout policy that states that a home game cannot be televised locally if it is not sold out within 72 hours prior to its start time. Prior to 1973, all home games were blacked out locally regardless if they were sold out or not. Although that policy was successfully defended in court numerous times, Congress (aided by politicians who wanted to watch locally televised Washington Redskins games) passed legislation requiring the NFL to impose the 72-hour deadline. However, the league will sometimes extend this deadline to 48-hours if there are only a few thousand tickets left unsold.

Alternatively, some NFL teams have arrangements with local TV stations or businesses to buy-up unsold tickets (or tickets that the visiting team returns) to ensure a sellout. However, the NFL requires that this be done for every home game in a given season if a team elects such an option. Tickets in premium "club" sections have also been excluded from the blackout rule in past years. The Jacksonville Jaguars have even gone further and closed off a number of sections at their home ALLTEL Stadium to reduce the number of tickets they would need to sell.

The NFL defines "locally" as within a 75-mile radius of the stadium. Therefore, a TV blackout not only affects the home team's primary market but also any secondary market whose broadcast signal penetrates into the 75-mile radius.

Another policy to ensure a filled up stadium is that no other NFL games can air on local TV at the same time as a team's home game in the club's primary market. This is to prevent ticket holders from opting to watch the other locally televised NFL game instead of showing up at the stadium. Thus when a team's home game is on the network with the singleheader, the network televising the doubleheader can only broadcast one game into that club's primary market; instead of showing a second game in the same time slot as the home game, the doubleheader network's local station must broadcast alternative programming. As a result, the New York and San Francisco Bay Area media markets get very few doubleheaders since both have two teams, and one of them is at home virtually every week. This policy only affects the club's primary market, not the other ones that penetrate inside the 75-mile radius. It also does not affect viewers of NFL Sunday Ticket in the primary market; all other games remain available.

If a home game is blacked out locally because it is not sold out before the 72-hour deadline, one of the following things will happen:

Critics claim that these blackout policies are not really effective in creating sold out, filled stadiums. Rather, there are other factors that cause non-sellouts, such as high ticket prices and the fact that people do not want to support a losing team. Furthermore, these critics contend that TV blackouts actually hurt the league; without the TV exposure, it becomes more difficult for those teams with low attendance and few sellouts to increase their popularity and following.

Conversely, supporters argue that the policies do indeed encourage fans and local corporations to buy tickets for their team. Additionally, many teams sellout their entire regular season schedule before it begins, and so there is no threat of a blackout in those markets. The NFL claims to have soldout well over 90 percent of games in recent seasons.

In 2005, for the first time in its history, the NFL lifted the blackout policies for a team: the New Orleans Saints. Due to damage by Hurricane Katrina, the Saints split their home games between Tiger Stadium at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (80 miles/130 km from New Orleans) and the Alamodome in San Antonio (540 miles/869 km from New Orleans).

Leverage over the networks

The NFL's status as a prime offering by the networks has led some to conclude that unbiased coverage of the league is not possible. ESPN attempted to run a dramatic series showing seamier aspects of pro football, Playmakers, but dropped the series after the league reportedly threatened to exclude the network from carrying its games.

The NFL also has a strict policy prohibiting networks to run ads during the Super Bowl from the gambling industry, and has rejected ads from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. It has been reported that if the television program Las Vegas is still on the air when NBC televises Super Bowl XLIII in 2009, they may not be allowed to promote the series during the entire block of programming. [link]

Additionally, the networks cannot discuss or run graphics showing point spreads during NFL shows. Most teams also insert similar clauses into their radio contracts.

Further, the NFL imposes some restrictions on sponsored-segments during game coverage (this does not apply to radio), as well as on whom sideline reporters can speak to and when.

NFL Films

NFL Films, which provides game films to media outlets for highlight shows, is owned by the NFL.

Footnotes

  1. ↑  [Top 10 Network Telecasts of All Time] from Nielsen Media Research

References

-->

The National Football League


-->AFC 		East North South West
Buffalo Bills Baltimore Ravens Houston Texans Denver Broncos
Miami Dolphins Cincinnati Bengals Indianapolis Colts Kansas City Chiefs
New England Patriots Cleveland Browns Jacksonville Jaguars Oakland Raiders
New York Jets Pittsburgh Steelers Tennessee Titans San Diego Chargers


-->NFC 		East North South West
Dallas Cowboys Chicago Bears Atlanta Falcons Arizona Cardinals
New York Giants Detroit Lions Carolina Panthers St. Louis Rams
Philadelphia Eagles Green Bay Packers New Orleans Saints San Francisco 49ers
Washington Redskins Minnesota Vikings Tampa Bay Buccaneers Seattle Seahawks
NFL seasons | NFL playoffs | AFC Championship Game | NFC Championship Game | The Super Bowl | Super Bowl Champions
NFL lore | NFL on television | Monday Night Football | The Pro Bowl | NFL Draft | NFLPA | AFL | AFL-NFL Merger | NFL Europe | Defunct NFL teams

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: