The NFL Is Fumbling Its Future

The last remaining pillar of the quickly eroding television broadcast model is showing signs of weakness. Live sports rights, especially NFL football, have been mostly immune to the epidemic of cord-cutting, binge-watching, and delayed viewing that plagues the industry. This appears to be changing. Through two weeks of the season, NFL viewership is down double-digits; and this is following a 8% decline last season. Experts are frantically searching for reasons, blaming the weather, poor quarterback play, one-sided games, concussions, and of course Colin Kaepernick, who isn't currently on a team. The ramifications are sweeping, as the poor ratings come on the heels of a Magna Global report that warned against the failing economics of carrying sports on broadcast and cable TV. Ballooning costs and reduced revenues led Magna analysts to conclude that they "don't see the ever-increasing gap between ad revenues and rights fees as sustainable in the long term." Needless to say, if the NFL doesn't find a way to reverse the exodus of viewers, the business model for all professional sports could change dramatically.

PageBreaks Take: You don't need to be an expert to see the continuing, and rapidly increasing trend away from long-form content. Why consume a single, three-hour game when viewers can watch all of the exciting plays in real-time on the Red Zone channel, on YouTube, or through Twitter. The growth of Red Zone and of Fantasy Football have made individual games and individual teams obsolete.

#television #entertainment