OBR News-o-rama

NFL Network Going Bye-Bye? Posted: 21 Jun 2008 12:07 AM CDT The NFL tried to run an end-around on TV networks by starting up their own, but got slammed into the turf by cable operators. The game may now be over, as the Wall Street Journal reports that the league is in talks to partner with ESPN to run the network. The NFL Network, while appealing to hard-core fans of the type who frequent the OBR, simply couldn't get past cable operators who had their own opinions about the network's value. Incidents last year when games weren't broadcast to Comcast and Time Warner cable subscribers didn't make the league look fan-friendly, and their transparent attempts to gin up fan protest to benefit themselves didn't take off like they hoped. I'm guessing that another factor may be at play with the NFL Network as well. Thanks in part to downward price pressure from cable operators, the Network simply isn't going to make the type of margins that NFL owners expect. This is a league where every franchise can be profitable based simply on network TV revenues. How much effort can they be expected to invest in a lower margin business? The NFL's dabbling in the TV business reminds me a bit of watching the Big Five firm I was a part of back in during the first internet boom try to get partial ownership of net-based enterprises. There was always a lot of enthusiasm for these enterprises as the firm's partners became enamored of the notion of "making money while we sleep" on per-transaction fees and so forth. Turns out lots of other companies had the same idea. As a result, competition pushed margins down. Suddenly, businessmen who had become used to 30% or higher margins on high-rent consulting services were seeing their people pulled into projects that were making much, much lower margins. The enthusiasm for most of these projects quickly dimmed. The NFL, by a similar token, has a business where it enjoys a veritable monopoly, with huge payouts coming from broadcasting rights and taxpayer-subsidized stadiums. Outside of areas where its monopoly can be exploited (TV, video games, licensing), the league has a much harder time being successful. Exhibit One: NFL Europe. In this case, cranky cable operators held their ground and refused to underwrite the network's development. Partnering with ESPN could be a decent way to tiptoe away from the business.  Of course, people who have been reading my various rants for years knows I'm not going to cry myself to sleep over this development. I feel team and league-owned media enterprises, on the whole, are bad for fans, and bad for independent and objective media outlets who cover the sports. But I doubt that the NFL owners care much about that. Getting them out of owning their own cable TV network, however, is probably good long-term news for fans.

Insane People Predict Super Bowl Winners Posted: 20 Jun 2008 05:38 PM CDT Yes, I wrote a little bit of the Fox season preview and fantasy guide thing, and they demanded predictions of me. Still, I just want to go ahead and get it on record that anyone who predicts Super Bowl winners at this point is congenitally insane. It's like those seven-round mock drafts you see in March, but slightly less needy and desperate. Anyhow, people with severe mental conditions resulting in a desire to be completely wrong on the national stage have now taken to predicting how the 2008 season will turn out. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: Dr. Z, who clearly can't self-diagnose delusional visions, offers his opinion that the Minnesota Vikings will win the Super Bowl. He might have a point. The Vikings have assembled a lot of the component parts they need. McKinnie and Hutchinson are clearly the best left-side of a line west of the Cuyahoga river, and Jared Allen may put some fear into opposing offenses. Anyone pointing and laughing at the notion of QB Tavaris Jackson taking the Vikings to the promised land, I have two words for you: Trent Dilfer. A Minnesota vs. Cleveland Super Bowl would give fans a choice between teams that have never taken home the Lombardi Trophy and, almost as good, cause nightmares among whatever TV network owns the Super Bowl this year. It would also create a lot of cross-traffic between the two biggest NFL sites on the Scout network. Dare we dream? WHATIFSPORTS.COM: By contrast, WhatIfSports.com's mathematical simulators and supercomputers came up with New England 33, Dallas 31 as the final score of SBXLIII. Please, Daniel Stern or whoever controls these things, don't let that happen. I can't imagine living through five months of football for that result. Can I just go into hibernation now and avoid the boredom of Patriots/Cowboys hype? Ugh and double-ugh. * * * SOMEONE FIND MY BUCKET: Brian Billick: Still arrogant, still self-important, still not nearly as smart as he thinks he is. Also: Still bald and still fired. At least, after this fawning interview from NBC Sports, we learn the last time this TV yapper-to-be wept openly. Why didn't Tom Curran just ask him what type of tree he would be? I've said for at least five years that Billick's fate was to annoy us all on television. For once, I'm not happy that I'm about be proven right. I still haven't forgotten Brian Baldo's dissing Cleveland and enabling Ray Lewis. Fortunately, TV remotes come with mute buttons and channel switchers. They don't have the sound on the TVs in the press box anyway. I'll be in blissful ignorance of whatever Billick is yammering about. Home viewers will not be so lucky. * * * RIBS IS GOOD EATIN: Don't forget the 5th Annual Rib Burn-off this Saturday, hosted by the Lake Erie Islands Browns Backers. They rock. I quote: "Guests will have the chance to meet current Browns starter Antwaan Peek and former Browns safety Felix Wright. The Bone Lady, Dawg Pound Mike, Big Dawg and Mobile Dawg will also be in attendance". No additional comment. * * * WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG: Our friends at Waiting For Next Year pointed us to this screen grab of Cleveland Browns Stadium as depicted in Madden 2009. It's pretty accurate, except for the fact that they've rotated the Stadium ninety degrees. Also, they put a river where Route 2 is supposed to be, drowned everyone in the RTA station, and put the railroad tracks underwater. I'm not sure how I feel about all that. Plus, they knocked down the Science center for a parking lot. Not sure how I feel about that, either. Clearly, programmers don't make good city planners. Looks like a nice day, though. Clear skies and bright shiny weather. Clearly, these people have never been to Cleveland in football season.

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