In sports, there are always fans who complain that their favorite team isn’t getting enough games that are broadcast on national television, especially in primetime.
That complaint may be most prevalent in the NFL, where there are only 17 regular season games per team and therefore fewer opportunities to have a contest on CBS, FOX, NBC or ESPN.
Although the league has announced that each team can be on Thursday Night Football twice a year instead of once, it will not promise that all 32 teams will be seen on primetime television.
NFL says there’s no promise all 32 teams are getting a primetime game.
“We want to make sure that teams competitively play their way into primetime,” NFL EVP/Chief Media and Business Officer Brian Rolapp said. https://t.co/wSrJ8XUog6
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) March 28, 2023
Last season, Thursday Night Football games were broadcast on Amazon Prime, which limited the scope of availability.
Reportedly, team owners are negotiating with league officials to do something about that issue.
Television has certainly been the major impetus behind the NFL becoming the most popular sport in our nation, going back to the 1960s when the league seemed to enter adulthood.
It was the advent of Monday Night Football in 1970 that helped football compete with and eventually surpass baseball in popularity across America.
In addition, acquiring the rights to NFL games starting in the 1994 season helped FOX go from a fledgling, second-rate network that was often derived to one that was on par with the “Big Three” of ABC, CBS and NBC.
Viewing habits have obviously changed in modern times, with more people “cutting the cord” and opting for streaming services in order to watch their favorite sports, news and entertainment programs, and adjusting to these changes will be integral to the future of the nation’s four major pro sports leagues.
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