NFL Network Works Through Glitches For First Game Broadcast

NFL Network Airs First Live Regular- Season Game With Broncos-Chiefs

NFL Network last Thursday aired its first live regular-season game broadcast with a primetime Thanksgiving matchup between the Broncos and Chiefs. During the pregame show, NFL Network’s Rich Eisen touted the scale of the event: “People in Kansas City have been waiting for this moment [a Thanksgiving Day game] for 37 years. And quite frankly, we on NFL Network have been waiting for this moment for quite some time.” Eisen, along with analysts Deion Sanders, Marshall Faulk and Steve Mariucci, conducted the pregame show from a desk on the sideline at Arrowhead Stadium. In addition to analysis of the upcoming game and highlights from the two afternoon games, the show featured a look back at historic Thanksgiving games narrated by Steve Sabol (NFL Network, 11/23).

REVIEWS: USA TODAY’s Michael McCarthy wrote the Broncos-Chiefs telecast had a “familiar style — straightforward game coverage” –- but also had “glitches. The TV graphic showing the first-down line didn’t work at first. Early on, replays were slow, graphics appeared irregularly and viewers didn’t see graphics with earlier game results” (USA TODAY, 11/24). On Long Island, Neil Best wrote, “Mostly, the NFL Network stuck to its promise of a no-nonsense telecast focused on football. ... Graphically, the presentation wasn’t flawless but was comparable to that on other major networks” (NEWSDAY, 11/26). In Boulder, Gary Baines wrote the telecast “was marred by audio issues ... to the point that on many occasions it was difficult to make out what the announcers were saying” (Boulder DAILY CAMERA, 11/25). But in Jacksonville, Jeff Elliott wrote there were “plenty of positives about the telecast. The camera coverage was equal to any of the big network telecasts and included an increased use of coverage from the floating camera on a line above the field.” A wireless mic worn by Broncos LB Al Wilson “offered some strong comments moments after a play” (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 11/25).

TALENT REVIEWS: The TIMES-UNION’s Elliott wrote play-by-play announcer Bryant Gumbel and analyst Cris Collinsworth “will need a handful of games to become familiar with each other.” Gumbel “misidentified players on two occasions and had the wrong score going out of a break another time” (TIMES-UNION, 11/25). In K.C., Jeffrey Flanagan wrote Gumbel “was off all night trying to figure out down and distance” (K.C. STAR, 11/24). NEWSDAY’s Best wrote Collinsworth “can mix solid analysis with blunt criticism.” Gumbel in the first half “was too dry, merely describing the action and waiting for Collinsworth to explain.” But by the second half, Gumbel “seemed to get the hang of it” (NEWSDAY, 11/26). USA TODAY’s McCarthy noted that Gumbel gave the “wrong league website address for consumers to complain they don’t get the NFL Network” (USA TODAY, 11/24). In DC, Dan Daly wrote he is “not sure Bryant Gumbel has what it takes to be the NFL Network’s play-by-play man” (WASHINGTON TIMES, 11/26). In Dallas, Barry Horn wrote Gumbel “was OK, but he doesn’t have the deep pipes most viewers have come to expect from play-by-play voices. By the time these two hit their stride, the season will be over” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 11/25). Comedian Frank Caliendo, doing his John Madden impression on Fox’ pregame show Thursday, said of that night’s upcoming broadcast on NFL Network, “If you thought Tryptophan made you sleepy, try four quarters of Bryant Gumbel” (Fox, 11/23).

FAN AT THE TOP: Attending the Broncos-Chiefs game, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said, despite lacking carriage on several cable systems, “We are thrilled with the NFL Network to date. It’s an absolute great way to deliver more football to our fans. We think it is high quality. The production has been outstanding. I think looking down 10 years from now, we see greater distribution. We think it will give an opportunity for more fans to experience football and give them an inside look at what the NFL is all about” (K.C. STAR, 11/24).

WHAT’S NEXT? CABLEFAX DAILY reports ACA President & CEO Matt Polka referenced NFL Network’s “refusal to allow small ops to carry it on tiers while Comcast and Cox have it on various tiers/packages” last week in a letter to NFL Exec VP/Media and NFL Network President & CEO Steve Bornstein. Polka’s letter, which was copied to the FCC and several members of Congress, stated, “I write to request that the NFL Network change this discriminatory and anti-consumer policy” (CABLEFAX DAILY, 11/27). In Chicago, Don Pierson wrote the NFL “promises that [PPV] television is not coming soon,” but added, “Cable and satellite television already are forms of [PPV], and the NFL Network is not planning to limit its season packages to eight games in future seasons. Pro football’s big foot has squarely propped open the door to pay TV” (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 11/26).

WISH YOU WERE HERE: CBS’ Charley Casserly said it “looks like [Chiefs Owner Lamar Hunt] is going to be okay” after being hospitalized last Wednesday (CBS, 11/26). Hunt missed the game on Thanksgiving night “because of a partially collapsed lung” (K.C. STAR, 11/25). Hunt was also “unable to see the game on television because the NFL Network was not available at the hospital, but he listened to the audio portion of the telecast over the phone from his daughter Sharron’s home.” He has been “in and out of the hospital during the last 2 1/2 months for treatments in his battle with cancer,” but Chiefs Chair Clark Hunt said that the hospitalization “was not related to cancer or cancer treatments” (K.C. STAR, 11/24).