After Peacock hosted the first ever streaming-exclusive NFL playoff game, Mike Francesa insists fans shouldn’t worry about the Super Bowl going a similar route.
The NFL caused a stir last week by putting the Kansas City Chiefs-Miami Dolphins matchup on Peacock. It drew the ire of fans and a cast of media members including, Charles Barkley, Bill Simmons and Howard Stern. Even politicians weighed in, “demanding” the NFL and NBC put the game on linear TV in all markets to no avail. The Chiefs-Dolphins matchup was already available on linear TV in the home markets of Kansas City and Miami.
But in the wake of Peacock’s exclusive NFL playoff broadcast setting a streaming record, one concerned fan asked Francesa whether the Super Bowl will eventually become a pay-per-view event.
“Absolutely not. It will never happen,” Francesa stated definitively. “It won’t happen in your lifetime. It won’t happen in my lifetime. It won’t happen in the unborn’s lifetime.
“Congress will never allow championship games in America be played on pay TV. That will never happen. They will always be played on free TV, unless there isn’t free TV. That might change the dynamic, but I think we’re still a long, long way from that where there’s no free TV.”
Last year, former ESPN boss John Skipper gave credence to the idea of the NFL turning the Super Bowl into a pay-per-view event. According to Skipper, a Super Bowl PPV would generate “billions of dollars” for the NFL. But as Francesa noted, Congress would likely step in because the NFL has remained the beneficiary of an antitrust exemption since the 1960s. Without that exemption, franchises would negotiate their own TV deals, destroying the ability to maintain competitive parity.
But on the off chance the NFL does have thoughts about pulling the Super Bowl from free, over-the-air television, they have to wait until 2035 at the earliest because the league’s current rights deals run through the 2033 season. One thing is for certain, however. A Super Bowl PPV would cost a lot more than the $5.99 needed for a Peacock subscription that outraged fans last weekend.
“The NFL will continue in any way possible to grab every dollar and squeeze every dollar out of the best fanbase that any sport could ever dream of having,” Francesa admitted. “They have a hundred million ardent fans. That is insanity. It’s beyond the realm of the league’s comprehension. And it is a golden goose that just keeps on giving.”
The NFL will attempt to squeeze every dollar out of every fan. They’re just going to do it in ways that won’t include a Super Bowl PPV.
