It is going to be difficult to put the Super Bowl on a streaming service.
There was a report from Front Office Sports that “Amazon has its sights set on its next big venture into NFL media rights: the Super Bowl.” Right now, it is highly unlikely that Congress would look kindly at Amazon Prime streaming the Super Bowl leaving over-the-air TV but the landscape of TV is changing rapidly and in the 2030s attitudes might change. There are not a lot of free TV option left but the NFL produces big ratings for over-the-air TV networks. The last TV drama involving Congress and the NFL took place almost 17 years ago.
On December 29th, 2008, a New England Patriots-New York Giants contest in East Rutherford, New Jersey became a political football as the game was scheduled to be carried by the NFL Network as an exclusive cablecast. The problem? New England was undefeated and possibly heading to become the NFL’s first undefeated team since 1972 when Miami accomplished the feat. At that time, the channel reached only 43 million cable and satellite homes out of a possible 95 million homes. Massachusetts Senator John Kerry suggested the game be moved to NBC as a Sunday night presentation. But the NFL wanted to keep the game on the NFL Network. Kerry, along with Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter and Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, wrote a letter to the commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell, threatening to reconsider the limited antitrust exemption that the NFL enjoyed thanks to the 1961 Sports Broadcast Act. Following that pressure, the game was shown on CBS and NBC as well as on the NFL Network. Recently, National Basketball Association Commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged that his league by going to Peacock and Amazon Prime is cutting off some fans. Amazon landing the Super Bowl could be problematic.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
