Too soon for the NFL to stream a playoff game on Peacock, or any other platform? Yes!
An NFL Wild-Card weekend playoff game will stream on NBCUniversal's Peacock platform on Jan. 13, 2024. Credit: AP
For a guy born during the Eisenhower Administration, I have been a good sport about this live streaming stuff.
When folks complain about ESPN+ exclusively showing Rangers and Islanders games, about Apple, Peacock and Amazon showing Yankees and Mets games, about Amazon’s Thursday night NFL games and whatnot, I tell them it is part of the process.
It’s a transition. It’s an experiment. It’s the future. It’s going to be fine, even if in the short term it causes financial pain and some confusion.
It’s like the transition from broadcast to cable before many of you were born. We survived. Stuff happens.
But all that ended on Monday, with an announcement that was a step too far, or at least a step too soon.
An NFL playoff game, exclusively on Peacock? Poppycock!
Maybe in 2030 or beyond, but not now.
The game will be played in the wild-card round on Saturday night, Jan. 13, and presumably will not feature one of the more attractive matchups of the weekend.
It also will be shown on local broadcast channels in the two markets involved, as are all NFL games on cable or streaming outlets.
Sorry, that is not enough.
. I am pretty sure it is in the United States Constitution that every American has a right to see NFL playoff games.
Our Founding Fathers, men of vision such as Pete Rozelle, Roone Arledge, George Halas, Wellington Mara, Paul Brown, Manhasset’s Jim Brown and Fireman Ed, did not sign up for this when they chose to make football our nation’s unifying concept.
An NFL playoff game. Streaming. On Peacock. At first it seemed like a mistake, or a prank, or an imposter’s post on Twitter.
But it was true. The Wall Street Journal reported that NBCUniversal will pay the NFL around $110 million for the privilege, in a one-year agreement.
Remember, it’s an experiment! A process!
But even one year of a less-than-juicy early round playoff game is too much.
There are ways around this, of course, not including millennials and Gen-Zers doing their illegal streaming magic.
One presumably can sign up for a free seven-day trial of Peacock on Jan. 12 and cancel it on Jan. 14.
Other than that, one could pay the $4.99 monthly fee to sample the service for a bit and make the decision about whether to keep it. Maybe you’ll like it!
You also might want to try Peacock’s regular-season exclusive, a Bills-Chargers game on Dec. 23, and keep your subscription at least through Jan. 13.
As for those without an Internet connection or smart TV or the tech-savviness to figure all this out, some will be out of luck, especially those without grandchildren living nearby.
The local broadcast option helps, but what about a Jets fan living in Florida who might want to watch his team’s first playoff game in 13 years that night?
NFL and NBC executives said words about all this upon making the announcement. Here are some of them:
Hans Schroeder, NFL executive VP: "Expanding the digital distribution of NFL content while maintaining wide reach for our games continues to be a key priority for the league."
Pete Bevacqua, chairman of NBC Sports: “We are thrilled to partner with the NFL on this industry milestone, bringing to Peacock the first ever exclusively live streamed NFL playoff game."
The rest of us are not thrilled, Pete.
At least in the case of, say, ESPN+ showing NHL games, cord-cutters without a traditional cable TV package can get games that they otherwise would not.
In the case of a Peacock NFL playoff game, it merely means taking a game away from free, over-the-air TV in non-local markets.
The net result naturally will be the least-watched NFL playoff game in recent memory, no matter the matchup. (For comparison, Amazon Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football” regular-season games averaged 9.6 million viewers last season for its 14 games, according to Nielsen, down 41% from the previous year on Fox and NFL Network.)
The only previous time there was a fully non-broadcast NFL playoff game was when ESPN had one featuring the Cardinals and Panthers in 2015. It generated subpar viewership.
The next year, ESPN started simulcasting its playoff game on ABC.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
