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Friday, August 12, 2011
Pre-season NFL or playoff-chase MLB?
Derek wants to know:
Is ESPN contractually obligated to show preseason football on its flagship channel? I know, I’m out of things, I don’t understand who is getting paid for what… and yet the NFL lockout makes pre-season NFL football look like split-squad (and B-squad at that) spring training games. And just in the world of baseball, there’s two games between teams #1 and #2: the AL Central division Indians-Tigers, with Verlander, and an NL Central division title game with Pujols. There’s even a Yankees game on! How does that not get televised? Is it tied to Monday Night Football? Help me understand.
I remember some 25 years ago there was an NFL work stoppage. And there was also a race for the top between the Jays and the Tigers. I guess this must have been 1987. Anyway, the Jays/Tigers were in a thrilling race for the top, and as luck would have it, the last three games of their season was against each other. MLB couldn’t have scripted this any better: a race for the top and no NFL games to speak of.
What did one of the football networks do (I guess it was CBS), while (I guess it was NBC) played the Tigers/Jays game? They replayed the previous season’s Super Bowl (a blowout game). And, I still remember this, the Nielsen ratings for the replay game was higher than the live Tigers/Jays game.
I think the point is that when you look at NFL v MLB, you should think of it like MLB v NHL. It’s not a question of whether a live NHL game is more exciting than a replay of a blowout MLB World Series game, but that the appetite for MLB (in USA) is far greater than it is for NHL. And similarly, the appetite for NFL is far greater than MLB.
I don’t know how much things have changed over the past 25 years. So, when I see Derek’s anecdote, all I can say is that ESPN is responding to the needs of its customers.
I for one am so thankful that NBC Sports Network (nee Versus) is the flagship network of the NHL. I don’t have to worry about choosing.
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