2017 Memo Shows NFL’s Plan if it Nixed ‘Sunday Ticket’

The trial over whether the NFL inflated prices for its Sunday Ticket television broadcast package has headed to closing arguments.

As part of those arguments, the plaintiffs showed a memo from 2017 that indicated the league was looking into putting out-of-market games on cable if it decided to stop selling Sunday Ticket.

This would seem to bolster the plaintiff’s arguments that it would be possible for the NFL to allow consumers to watch their teams from out-of-market on a game-by-game, team-by-team, or weekend-by-weekend basis.

In other words, consumers could easily have options beyond the all-or-nothing approach of Sunday Ticket.

Consumers See Potential for Choice

It’s implied that choice is limited because the NFL wants it that way

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio points out that consumers seem to have less choice in how to consume NFL games because the league itself wants to limit that choice.

The question is if the NFL will change its approach going forward. Obviously, if the league loses the case, it almost certainly will. But even if it wins, it might make changes because it has been battered in the court of public opinion.

The law is one thing, but if the NFL is facing angry consumers and/or seeing Sunday Ticket subscriptions drop, it might want to change how it serves out-of-market games to consumers just for the sake of good public relations—and customer relations.

As we’ve covered before, if you’re a Chicago Bears fan living in, say, San Diego, you would have to buy Sunday Ticket, which costs $389 plus $72.99 monthly to subscribe to YouTube TV to see all the Bears games that aren’t broadcast in the San Diego area.

​​​​​​​Buying a Sunday Ticket package would give you access to all the out-of-market games, but if you wanted to pay less to see only Bears games, you’d have no choice but to pony up for the full package.

The same thing goes for a Bears fan vacationing in Miami — if they want to see a Bears game that’s not being broadcast in the Miami market on a given Sunday, their options to see Chicago play would be limited. We suppose one could go to a bar or stream illegally, but not everyone wants to watch games at a bar, and many people don’t want to mess with streaming.

So, suppose one wanted to watch at a private residence or a hotel. In that case, one would almost certainly need a Sunday Ticket package. Why pony up hundreds of dollars for one game? Even a bar tab is probably cheaper.

To be fair, some customers can easily justify the cost of Sunday Ticket. Serious fantasy football managers, gamblers, and devout fans might find the cost worth it.

That said, most fans want a choice when it comes to following their team from out-of-market or just watching out-of-market games in general. So it makes sense that public opinion and some media opinion seem to be siding against the league based on a combination of the league’s all-or-nothing approach to Sunday Ticket and the package’s cost.

The trial should move to the jury after today’s closing arguments conclude.

Source: Pro Football Talk, Joe Reedy

All statistics courtesy of Pro Football Reference unless stated otherwise.

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