Sports Blog

On Thursday, after you watch the early game between Miami and Detroit, and then settle in for the late afternoon game between Tampa Bay and Dallas, many of us will then tune into the NFL Network for game 3 - Denver at Kansas City - well, at least some of us will. Thursday marks the first of eight televised games on the NFL Network.

According to Howard Bloom of Sports Business News, it seems that after the NFL completed lucrative multi-billion dollar deals with NBC for Sunday Night Football, ESPN for Monday Night Football, as well as deals with CBS, Fox and DirecTV, there were still 8 games left. Apparently, Time Warner Cable and Comcast were very interested in picking up these 8 games, but the right price wasn’t met (it seems the NFL left $400 million on the table, deciding that the 8 games might be a nice addition to their own network).

The only problem is that the NFL has been less than successful in getting its Network into all those American households in time for the big launch on Thursday. Currently, about 41 million homes receive the NFL Network channel in the U.S.A. So, there will be a lot of unhappy NFL fans at game time Thursday night when the ball is kicked off at Arrowhead Stadium without them.

I’ll be watching - my cable provider found a channel to slot in the NFL Network. But come Thursday, major cable operators like Time Warner and Cablevision that have channel after channel that no one watches will have many angry football fans that can’t find the football game because their cable provider couldn’t find a spot for the sports channel that broadcasts the NFL Network.

So, football fans, speak up! Check your cable listings and call your cable provider. Otherwise, grab a dish towel - you may as well help with the Thanksgiving Day dishes.