NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell yesterday discussed the league suspending its blackout policy for the '15 season, noting it was time to "suspend it for a year and ... see what the impact is long-term." Speaking at the conclusion of the annual owners meeting, Goodell said, "Changing our broadcast policies over the last six or 10 years, we've given our clubs more flexibility to sell their stadiums out, more flexibility in their manifest, more flexibility in the way they can sell their tickets." He said blackouts have "not really become an issue." Goodell: "We had zero blackouts in 2014, we had two in ’13, and what we’ve seen is a significant change there. ... Our clubs have done a great job aggressively marketing themselves" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 3/25).
A POTENTIALLY HISTORIC MOVE: ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser said the NFL's decision to broadcast this year's Bills-Jaguars game exclusively through a digital outlet could be a “revolutionary move.” Bills-Jaguars is a “terrible game” and “nobody in America would watch this game, so they put it to London." Because there are "no ratings expectations of this, if this does well, then the next time a block of games is up for bid, they go to Netflix or Amazon or Apple or any of those people for huge money because they have more money than anybody. So it could be a very big deal” (“PTI,” ESPN, 3/24). Fox Business’ Charles Payne said, “This is the beginning of something significant. This is a seismic shift from the TV box to the Internet. And as content is king, this is the ultimate content” (“Varney & Company,” Fox Business, 3/24). NBC Sports’ Dave Briggs said the NFL is “really exploring the market here and seeing how much they can get out of this thing." Briggs: "This might establish more of a floor than a ceiling. Keep in mind this is Buffalo and Jacksonville, two of the four smallest markets in the NFL." But he added it will give the NFL a "good sense of what the floor is for the future of streaming games.” Briggs said what the NFL "wants to do is see who is interested, see the types of websites, of companies, of global properties that are involved in this” (“Fast Money Halftime Report,” CNBC, 3/24).
