That’s the question posted by the FanNation Blog today. The catalyst for the post is a fantastic article in the Sports Business Journal that chronicles the brief history of the NFL Network including the various missteps and overplaying of hands along the way. The result is a great piece that explains a lot of why the network is still only available to roughly 35% of US households despite being owned by the #1 sports league in this country by a long shot.
From my perspective, I’ve only had limited interaction with the NFL Network as I absolutely no interest in subscribing to it. So my main thought has always been negative because the NFL has basically been keeping me from watching key prime time games for the last few years. Very annoying. That is until recently when I caught the final Cowboys game at Texas Stadium via live streaming on NFL.com. It was fantastic and the highest quality live stream for game that I’ve ever seen.
That said, I’m not sure what the NFL Network’s plans are for the 2009 season but I assume at some point the party will end with free streaming. The league appears to be completely committed to making the network a key part of the NFL landscape while refusing to lower fees to cable operators. Both sides aren’t exactly thrilled with the other, and who knows if one party will blink. Until then, I can only hope the live streaming continues or it’s back to sports bars. But I suppose that’s not so bad either.
Can the NFL Network finally break through? FanSection blog post references a great Sports Biz Journ article http://tinyurl.com/cbktuu
@FanSection Can the NFL Network finally break through? http://tinyurl.com/cbktuu - links to great article in Sports Biz Journal
@FanNation finally got around to reading your NFL Networks post; i referenced it in a similar one at FanSection http://tinyurl.com/cbktuu