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ESPN Can’t Afford Monday Night Football Any More

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Re: ESPN Can’t Afford Monday Night Football Any More

#11

Post by Feniks »

endtime wrote: post #3
rhino369 wrote: post #2

I think it's a bad assumption to think the NFL will demand more money when ratings and subscriptions are down. ESPN just has to be the highest bidder. Someone has got to air the games.

What happens if the highest bidder can't pay the NFL enough to make it worthwhile? I keep seeing pictures of half-empty stands behind kneeling football players, and ultimately if the NFL destroys its value by alienating too many fans with politics, there's no reason the entire business won't or shouldn't collapse.

Actually if they are smart the NFL capitalises on the current political climate.

Think about it: an NFL team sponsored by the alt right vs. one funded by Ben&Jerry's.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nika_riots

Re: ESPN Can’t Afford Monday Night Football Any More

#12

Post by rhino369 »

endtime wrote: post #3
rhino369 wrote: post #2

I think it's a bad assumption to think the NFL will demand more money when ratings and subscriptions are down. ESPN just has to be the highest bidder. Someone has got to air the games.

What happens if the highest bidder can't pay the NFL enough to make it worthwhile? I keep seeing pictures of half-empty stands behind kneeling football players, and ultimately if the NFL destroys its value by alienating too many fans with politics, there's no reason the entire business won't or shouldn't collapse.

There would have to be a pretty massive drop off for that to be a problem. The biggest costs are player/staff salaries and stadiums.

They can just keep the salary cap low and stop paying for new stadiums.

Re: ESPN Can’t Afford Monday Night Football Any More

#13

Post by sunsetMurk »

endtime wrote: post #3
rhino369 wrote: post #2

I think it's a bad assumption to think the NFL will demand more money when ratings and subscriptions are down. ESPN just has to be the highest bidder. Someone has got to air the games.

What happens if the highest bidder can't pay the NFL enough to make it worthwhile? I keep seeing pictures of half-empty stands behind kneeling football players, and ultimately if the NFL destroys its value by alienating too many fans with politics, there's no reason the entire business won't or shouldn't collapse.

curious - are there any reports/#'s out there that indicate attendance is lower than normal? +correlation w/ kneeling players?

Re: ESPN Can’t Afford Monday Night Football Any More

#14

Post by daviddumenil »

One option that other TV rights offerings have taken up is to split the package into tiered offerings.

That would allow the NFL to maintain ESPN as potentially the top tier while introducing new suitors with lower tiers and maintaining their revenue in aggregate.

The losers in this scenario are the fans: forced to purchase several subscriptions if they want to watch every game.

Re: ESPN Can’t Afford Monday Night Football Any More

#15

Post by kodablah »

This is going to be one of many reasons there might be a lockout in 2020 when it's CBA renewal time. This is going to trickle down to the players. NFL can't continue charging exorbitant access fees which means they will have to request a serious reduction in the salary cap (the owners aren't going to be willing to eat these losses).

I think this is great thing as the economics of large sports salaries have been artificially inflated by surreptitiously charging end users for things they might not want. As the internet continues to alter the landscape around content choice, traditional providers are going to have no choice but to push back on the networks which will, in turn, push back on the leagues which will, in turn, push back on high sports salaries. I wouldn't expect any of the limited sets of providers to accept any more price hikes from the sports networks. Sports costs have to come back down to earth as consumption specializes. It already has or will happen with other forms of content too.

Re: ESPN Can’t Afford Monday Night Football Any More

#16

Post by Mountain_Skies »

endtime wrote: post #3
rhino369 wrote: post #2

I think it's a bad assumption to think the NFL will demand more money when ratings and subscriptions are down. ESPN just has to be the highest bidder. Someone has got to air the games.

What happens if the highest bidder can't pay the NFL enough to make it worthwhile? I keep seeing pictures of half-empty stands behind kneeling football players, and ultimately if the NFL destroys its value by alienating too many fans with politics, there's no reason the entire business won't or shouldn't collapse.

Most stadium deals NFL teams have made over the past decade gives the team revenue from all events in the stadium instead just the NFL games. Owners who have been able to get cities and states to agree to these deals can insert other events on the days the team would have played should the sport collapse. The team as a legal entity would live on as an entertainment services provider. Even if the replacement event isn't as popular as the NFL once was, it along with all the other events hosted at the stadium likely would keep a profit stream flowing to the team owner.

Re: ESPN Can’t Afford Monday Night Football Any More

#17

Post by brttstl »

sunsetMurk wrote: post #13
endtime wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happens if the highest bidder can't pay the NFL enough to make it worthwhile? I keep seeing pictures of half-empty stands behind kneeling football players, and ultimately if the NFL destroys its value by alienating too many fans with politics, there's no reason the entire business won't or shouldn't collapse.

curious - are there any reports/#'s out there that indicate attendance is lower than normal? +correlation w/ kneeling players?

Nope.

Re: ESPN Can’t Afford Monday Night Football Any More

#18

Post by poulsbohemian »

Long time NFL GamePass subscriber here... no commercials, watch any game I want when I want - it's a completely superior experience to cable / OTA. I get that the NFL wants to maximize its revenue by selling rights, but they could likely provide their own real-time streaming service and every football fan on the planet would be happy to pay for it.

Re: ESPN Can’t Afford Monday Night Football Any More

#19

Post by [deleted] »

daviddumenil wrote: post #14

One option that other TV rights offerings have taken up is to split the package into tiered offerings. That would allow the NFL to maintain ESPN as potentially the top tier while introducing new suitors with lower tiers and maintaining their revenue in aggregate. The losers in this scenario are the fans: forced to purchase several subscriptions if they want to watch every game.

[deleted]

Re: ESPN Can’t Afford Monday Night Football Any More

#20

Post by ratinacage »

sunsetMurk wrote: post #13
endtime wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happens if the highest bidder can't pay the NFL enough to make it worthwhile? I keep seeing pictures of half-empty stands behind kneeling football players, and ultimately if the NFL destroys its value by alienating too many fans with politics, there's no reason the entire business won't or shouldn't collapse.

curious - are there any reports/#'s out there that indicate attendance is lower than normal? +correlation w/ kneeling players?

I've yet to find any. If you look at attendance for the last decade there seems to be no indication that it is actually declining.
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