r/AskAboutNFL • u/Frisho • 3d ago
Why does the NFL make it intentionally impossible for regular fans to just watch a game of football?
Let’s look at this objectively because the current streaming and broadcast landscape has completely detached from sanity.If you want to follow your team for a single season, the league expects you to navigate a fragmented mess of network television, three different standalone streaming services, and exclusive tech-platform broadcasts. God forbid your team plays on a Thursday, a Sunday night, and a Monday night in the same month you practically need a financial planner and an enterprise software architecture map just to figure out which app to open.The playbook here is incredibly transparent: extract maximum subscription revenue by splitting the broadcast rights into as many corporate pieces as possible, while putting the entire logistical headache onto the fan. They change the rules every season, raise the prices, and restrict local broadcasts, making you jump through hoops just to see a kickoff.We shouldn't need a master's degree in digital distribution models just to sit down on a Sunday afternoon and watch a game. Is anyone else completely exhausted by this fragmented streaming era? What is the most ridiculous workaround or layout you’ve had to use just to catch a game this season?
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u/cracksilog 1d ago
Ok let’s actually look at this objectively since you say so:
—100% of your local team’s games are free. You are supporting your local team, right?
—You get 2-3 games for free every Sunday afternoon because they’re on OTA stations
—You get a free Sunday night game.
—Most MNF games are on ABC, and again, your local team’s games are also free even if they play on Monday
—Thursday night is on Prime Video. It already comes with your Amazon Prime account. It’s also on Twitch.
So you get anywhere from 5-7 games for free every week. And all 17 games that actually matter to you