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Would you buy 20 out-of-market non-national games per season? That's about what they'd need to make up the revenue from the current Sunday Ticket package, if Di

Would you buy 20 out-of-market non-national games per season? That's about what they'd need to make up the revenue from the current Sunday Ticket package, if DirectTV's pricing (around $300/season) is any guide. Maybe more consumers would buy access to games if they could buy them individually, so you'd end up with 4x the number of current Sunday Ticket subscribers buying at least 5 games a year. But that seems like a lot. Eventually you run out of sufficiently motivated out-of-market fans. Remember that the teams with big out-of-market fan bases are just the teams that get picked routinely for national coverage. I could easily see 6-8 Dallas Cowboys or Green Bay Packers games/year for free already.

curun1r 13y ago
It's a mistake to consider only the cost of the Sunday Ticket. If that were the only factor, the NFL could easily make up the difference. There's a ton of people who either don't or can't get DirecTV who would sign up to stream NFL games, so I'd be surprised if they didn't multiply Sunday Ticket subscriptions by a factor of at least 10. But the reason why this isn't profitable for the NFL is the billion dollars per year that DirecTV pays them to be exclusive. There probably wouldn't be enough of an increase in viewership to cover that. The $300 DirecTV charges customers is actually selling it at a loss considering how much they pay the NFL. Their bet is that they can make up the difference in $60-$100 per month subscription fees.
jowiar 13y ago
Maybe not 20, but 10 -- definitely. Try being a fan of any other Eastern Time Zone team in DC (and presumably NY suffers from the same situation). Even if your team has a pretty national audience (i.e. Steelers, Eagles, Patriots, Giants, etc.), the Rs and Ravens block out two weekly TV slots. Anyway, you end up with perhaps two games where your team is playing the local team, another 2-3 games of national coverage, but I'd definitely be willing to PPV at least 10 games (and I'd definitely consider dropping cable and PPV-ing all 16).

curun1r 13y ago

It's a mistake to consider only the cost of the Sunday Ticket. If that were the only factor, the NFL could easily make up the difference. There's a ton of people who either don't or can't get DirecTV who would sign up to stream NFL games, so I'd be surprised if they didn't multiply Sunday Ticket subscriptions by a factor of at least 10. But the reason why this isn't profitable for the NFL is the billion dollars per year that DirecTV pays them to be exclusive. There probably wouldn't be enough of an increase in viewership to cover that. The $300 DirecTV charges customers is actually selling it at a loss considering how much they pay the NFL. Their bet is that they can make up the difference in $60-$100 per month subscription fees.

jowiar 13y ago

Maybe not 20, but 10 -- definitely. Try being a fan of any other Eastern Time Zone team in DC (and presumably NY suffers from the same situation). Even if your team has a pretty national audience (i.e. Steelers, Eagles, Patriots, Giants, etc.), the Rs and Ravens block out two weekly TV slots. Anyway, you end up with perhaps two games where your team is playing the local team, another 2-3 games of national coverage, but I'd definitely be willing to PPV at least 10 games (and I'd definitely consider dropping cable and PPV-ing all 16).