Major television networks scramble to find replacement
Turn on ESPN, and apart from extensive analysis of March Madness, you’ll likely see a daily update of the recent NFL labor disputes between the league and the player’s association, which is threatening to lock out the upcoming season.
While the NFL is understandably concerned, as no games means no ticket sales, concession sales and considerably lower merchandise sales, the move has stirred television networks into anxiety.
Each of the major broadcast networks depends heavily on the NFL season for programming: CBS and Fox have a Sunday morning pregame show followed by a 1 p.m. game and a 4 p.m. game, NBC has a hold on the Sunday night game and ABC traditionally airs “Monday Night Football.”
For networks like NBC that routinely struggle in ratings during the week, football is a safe haven: The costs are predictable, as is the audience, meaning executives can comfortably give advertisers enough space and the correct rates to turn an easy profit.
Take the Super Bowl: As one of the most anticipated television events of the year, it’s a pinnacle place for advertisers to unveil new campaigns. For the network that hosts the Super Bowl in any given year, ad revenues are considerable. The Super Bowl also gives networks a chance to draw new audiences into their shows, as in Fox’s decision to air “Glee” after the Super Bowl this year.
A lack of virtually an entire day’s worth of programming leaves each of the four major networks in a huge vacuum.
Further, if the nets can’t find an immediate solution to their woes, were the NFL season to be locked out, they risk advertisers fleeing in favor of basic cable networks like Spike, Comedy Central or MTV.
An article in The Hollywood Reporter on the issue notes Spike in particular as already thinking about how to compete in a world without NFL. The channel’s president told the Reporter they’re already considering other live sporting venues, such as boxing, that can air on Sunday nights to lure advertisers and viewers craving some kind of sporting fix.
While it’s an opportunity for cable to earn more widespread viewership and venture out of their mostly niche programming, it also puts the networks in a position to lose vast sums of money.
In the event of a lockout, the networks would be forced to develop potentially more expensive original programming or find other live events or commentary shows to fill the gap.
This is all, of course, hypothetical, as the ruling is still out on how or if this labor dispute will be resolved.
The ramifications of losing a season of football extend far past the sports industry. While it’s hard to imagine an ESPN deprived of months of football reporting, it’s harder still to imagine the networks climbing out of the vacuum.
Television relies on football — on stable audiences and consistent advertising — and the threat of its absence will force the landscape to radically redefine its fall programming.
That’s Entertainment.
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