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| CBS Logo Light (Photo credit: watchwithkristin) |
As part of its new TV deal with CBS, NBC, ESPN and Fox which goes into effect next season, the NFL wants to increase awareness of its league-owned cable channel by putting some of its Thursday night games on a broadcast network, which would be simulcast by that cable channel. Not NBCSN or Fox Sports 1, which could use some awareness themselves as upstart cable networks.
After much spirited bidding, CBS emerged as the winner. They and NFL Network will televise the first eight weeks of the regular season, then NFLN takes over the second half of the schedule, along with a couple of late-season Saturday games. This is a one-year deal, with an option for a second. The only exceptions are games on opening night and Thanksgiving night, which will be on NBC.
At first glance, you might think that the NFL gave away its prized package to the network that needed it the least. As CBS likes to tell us, they have the top-rated prime time broadcast network with an already successful Thursday night sitcom lineup. Of the other networks, NBC has Sunday nights, Fox has the World Series, and Disney has Monday nights on ESPN. Had any of them won the Thursday night package, it would have boosted their otherwise pathetic prime time ratings considerably.
The announcing crew on CBS/NFLN will be Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. This is going to be real strange, with a veteran broadcasting team that has called a few Super Bowls reduced to covering low-grade matchups--as opposed to the doubleheader games on Sundays-- for what might not be a long-term gig.
Thursday night games have always been a problem for teams in which the quality of the game suffers because they had three days off, and the risk of injury is high. (The tradeoff, of course, is more time to heal before the next game.) But people watch. As long as they do, the NFL will be more than happy to provide as much football as they possibly can. Even if it kills them.
Together we make football, indeed.
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