ESPN, Fox Have New Games to Play as NFL Season Opens
Sports Partner Jennifer O’Sullivan talked with Variety about strategies broadcasters are using for the 2018 NFL season.
The article covers the way NFL broadcasting has changed in recent years, noting that with ratings falling nine percent in 2017, the “NFL is making things even easier this year by allowing unauthenticated streaming of games via its own app or with Yahoo Sports.”
The article adds that “no one has more to worry about than ESPN and Fox” and that “one is trying to repair a relationship with the NFL through ‘Monday Night Football,’ and the other hopes to expand its ties to the league with broadcasts of the games on Thursday nights.” Jennifer said that “Fox recently inked a new 5-year, $3.3 billion dollar deal for Thursday night games and now needs to justify that price tag, particularly when previous holders of those rights were reluctant to compete at that level. [ESPN] has been plagued with a declining subscriber base while it struggles with justifying an equally exorbitant price tag for ‘Monday Night Football.’”
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