NFL Offers Pathetic Excuse After Donald Trump Calls Them Out For Robbing Fans Blind
This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.
The NFL has gone on the offensive following accusations from United States President Donald Trump.
Trump recently suggested that the U.S. Department of Justice will look into the league’s football partnerships with streaming companies. He also asserted that greed could one day cost them the sport.
The President made an appearance on ‘Full Measure’, where he lashed out at the NFL for exploiting viewers by removing games from television and making them exclusive to platforms like Netflix and Peacock.
“You’ve got people that love football. They’re great people. They don’t make enough money to go and pay this. It’s tough,” Trump said.
Asked whether the government could step in, he said, “I don’t know, but I don’t like it.”
“They’re making a lot of money,” Trump added. “They could make a little bit less. You have people that live for Sunday, and then all of a sudden, they’re gonna have to pay $1,000 a game. It’s crazy. So, I’m not happy about it.”
NFL executive vice president of media distribution Hans Schroeder responded to the criticism on Friday. Schroeder implied that the league isn’t planning on making any changes.
“We love our model,” he said, per ESPN. “We think we have the most fan-friendly model there is of any sport or entertainment as far as distribution.”
NFL Says It’s Catering To A Growing Market
Broadcast networks still get the lion’s share of NFL games. According to league officials, CBS, NBC, FOX and ABC air 87 percent of all fixtures between the four of them.
The way Schroeder sees it, the NFL is actually meeting a need by making games available to cord-cutters.
“We think broadcast [networks] have been an incredible home,” he said. “And, now, we also know fans are increasingly spending their time on other platforms as well. They tune into broadcast for the NFL and that’s where we want to be. But we also want to be on these platforms with a limited amount of our games where we know our NFL fans are already as well.
“When we’re going onto Netflix, we’re going onto a platform that is already massively adopted and a huge number of viewers on that platform already, including a huge number of NFL fans.”
Meanwhile, reports indicate that the DOJ is already reviewing the NFL’s distribution choices for potential anticompetitive tactics under the Sports Broadcasting Act (SBA) of 1961.
The act affords the league with limited protections, allowing it to negotiate TV rights deals. However, fans now need to fork out more money to watch games, with the aforementioned platforms, as well as Amazon Prime, securing rights for certain games throughout the season.
