Last year, NFL?coaches?started using tablets to produce and call plays. That was a huge advancement between American technology it’s most popular game. Now there’s another one.
Now, the NFL is poised to make history again. They’re going to broadcast a live game exclusively for the Internet. This game will be in the 2015 season, week seven, between the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars. Because this game will be live from London, England, it will come on at 9:30 am Eastern, 8:30 Central and 6:30 am Pacific. The NFL is touting this game to You Tube and other social media/Internet brands. For decades, the NFL and television have been synonymous. But during the 2010s, there’s been a movement to form a partnership with a major Internet conglomerate. Back in 2011, they tried to make a deal with Google to take Sunday Ticket Package. But the NFL went back to Direct TV. But this Bills vs Jaguars game won’t be on Direct TV. According to one sports-media consultant, the NFL selling one game from London could eventually lead to a long term relationship between the NFL and Internet. The NFL hopes this one game would be the catalyst to selling a package of games to a major Internet company.
I give the NFL credit about the timing. To air this game online at 9:30 Sunday morning right before the regularly scheduled games (which starts at 1pm Eastern) is genius. As an NFL fan myself, I’d love to watch four games a day (9:30 am, 1 pm, 4:25 pm, 8 pm). But it sounds like it’s going to take more than one game to establish some revolutionary move to move games on the Web. And what about TV companies and advertisers? If the NFL starts moving games to the Internet, I doubt they’re going to let $27 billion dollars a year go without a fight. So how would they react? And how many NFL fans are hardcore enough to watch this game so early? And which online company would take a chance on this?