Chris Russo has long made a living of flailing his hands and going on rants — some more outlandish than others — about certain discrepancies or things he finds unbecoming in the world of sports. And the “Mad Dog” has been pretty on point with how he’s felt about streaming services, recently torching Roger Goodell over the Peacock Exclusive playoff game between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs.
He’s previously blown a gasket over Goodell calling Amazon Prime’s NFL broadcast “historic.” And he has continued to harbor those same feelings, which boiled over in a rant on Wednesday’s edition of First Take.
This all came to a head when the league announced on Tuesday that while Peacock won’t exclusively air an NFL Playoff game this season, the streamer will air a game during the NFL’s Opening Week in September. The league’s historic game in São Paulo, Brazil, will exclusively air on Peacock on the Friday of Opening Week (Sept. 6).
As you can imagine, this didn’t sit quite well with Russo.
“So, the Eagle fan, who busts his butt to go to The Linc to see game after game and spends a fortune to do it, he’s not gonna fly to Brazil; he may not have Peacock,” began Russo. “So, he’s gonna miss the first game of the year so the NFL can make more money? I mean, really. I mean — it’s bad enough they’re on Amazon. It’s bad enough they go play in Europe. It’s bad enough they put extra millions of teams in, and they got an Amazon playoff game this year too, which drives me crazy. They got to play the first Opening Game of the year with the Philadelphia Eagles in São Paulo on Peacock? I mean, come on.
“It’s hard to get Peacock. I don’t want to get Peacock! I want to watch the game normal. Give me (Joe) Buck and (Troy) Aikman. Give me the CBS crew. (Tom) Brady’s gonna do it. Give me something. Don’t put the Eagles 9,000 miles away and then put them on a cable thing on Peacock, which you’ve gotta subscribe to, so NBC can make more money.”
Chris "Mad Dog" Russo isn't a fan of the Eagles' season opener in Brazil being played on Peacock.
"It's hard to get Peacock, I don't want to get Peacock! I want to watch the game normal. Give me Buck and Aikman. Give me the CBS crew. Brady's gonna do it. Give me something. Don't… pic.twitter.com/0MrDfMszh2
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 27, 2024
“I know the NFL prints money,” Russo continued. “I understand how big they are, but, boy, this gets obscene. Obscene!!!”
Per NFL rules, all nationally televised games — even ones on streaming services — must be made available on local television in the markets of the teams participating. So while “the Eagle fan, who busts his butt to go to The Linc” should still be able to watch Philadelphia’s opener without a Peacock subscription, just about everybody else is going to have to pay up.
[Awful Announcing on Twitter/X]
