NFL Open Thread: you know what I need, or maybe you don’t edition
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Arguably the best game of the wildcard round of the NFL playoffs is tonight’s game between the Dolphins and Chiefs. Because I am married to a Bravo fan, we happened to have NBC’s streaming service. The vast majority of fans, however, are out of luck unless they want to pony up 6 months, if they know how to use streaming services at all:
With three elegantly simple words, Josh Bowen spoke for millions of NFL fans:
“This shit sucks.”
The Kansas City native, who owns John Brown Smokehouse in Queens, had no clue that Saturday’s Chiefs-Dolphins wild-card game was airing exclusively on Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, until we spoke this week. When I told him, he didn’t believe me at first. “I was just assuming this was gonna be on TV like a normal playoff game would be,” he said. “So I’m gonna have to pay for a subscription to watch a playoff game?”
The idea of being forced to sign up for a streaming service in order to show playoff football to the hundreds of Chiefs fans packing his restaurant doesn’t just annoy Bowen. It offends him. “It’s un-American to be charging for playoff games,” he says.
On the other hand, money grabs are actually an American tradition (as is complaining about paying for something that used to be free). But this specific money grab is new. Last year, NBCUniversal reportedly shelled out $110 million to the NFL for the rights to broadcast one playoff game on its digital platform. Unless you live in the Kansas City or Miami areas, there will be no way to watch Chiefs-Dolphins on traditional, local television. It’s the first NFL playoff game that will only be available on a streaming service.
I’m reminded of Garry Wills’s dictum that running people out of town on a rail is as American as declaring inalienable rights.
I’m not looking forward to the NHL deciding that some playoff games will be streaming-only, which will involve my sister spending hours of her life trying to explain to my mother how Chromecast works or something.
Rob, Dave, and I previewed the playoffs here. I will not be betting on the games this weekend — I will be in Vegas playing with house money (5-for-5 on my over/under bets) next weekend — but if I had to place a wager on every game I would take the Texans moneyline (+115), the Chiefs parlayed with the under (-4.5/43.5), Dallas (-7), and Tampa Bay parlayed with the over (+3, 43.)