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It is surprising that while the NFL built its audience on accessibility through free network broadcasts, that they are spreading themselves increasingly thin, in a bid for irrelevance. I would argue that the difference between the NFL’s popularity and other sports is first, it’s scarcity of games (like intl soccer) and it’s availability. You can’t be a city’s big deal if no one watches the games, as hockey discovered in the South and that will slowly happen here.

I’m of the firm opinion that pay per view killed boxing, for example, and the scarcely better regional sports channel deals for baseball also throttle local interest. The splitting of NASCAR and hockey rights at one time also correlated with viewership and ticket declines. This is just another example of that – a mismanagement of their brand imo. They have viewership to spare, but the new generation doesn’t seem as keen as the old ones and the temptation will be for more money deals, not fewer.

Apple plus’ rights deal for baseball that ignores blackouts is a step in the right direction for a declining sport. But I’d really love to see a league take on their own streaming and social media and see how that can enhance their appeal – MLB runs their own streaming infrastructure but then sells off exclusive media rights anyway, undermining the value to their hardcore fans only to double down on declining cable TV viewers.

There is a balance to be struck between exposure – you need to appear on ESPN and some networks to be discovered – and simplifying discovery – limiting the outlets and making them affordable to maintain fans to sell merchandising to.

It’s not unlike the issue with music streaming services, right down to the extra value of live performances, but coming from entirely the opposite direction of traditionally limited and exclusive rights.

Posted  on May 4, 2022 | 12:45 PM

However, there is one thing that could change the potential of sports streaming more quickly than the development of Trevor Lawrence as a quarterback: gambling.

Ironically, it will likely be difficult to do the sort of "play-by-play" gambling with this being exclusive to ESPN+, considering absolutely none of the sports streaming players* seem to be concerned with having their stream be within a minute of the action as it would be on the cable channel.

*AppleTV excluded for lack of personal knowledge concerning if they keep their stream up-to-speed with the live action.

Posted  on May 4, 2022 | 1:55 PM