CBS, Fox contracts with the NFL will prevent “significant reduction” in the price of Sunday tickets

Many are excited about the inevitability of landing NFL Sunday tickets with a new provider for a variety of reasons, from the possibility of improved customer service over DirecTV’s current “please” approach to the potential for expanded functionality and more options for out-of-market gaming. An important change will not be made.
It does not get much cheaper.
Alex Sherman of CNBC.com reports that the language of the contracts between the NFL and CBS and Fox precludes a significant reduction in the price point for the Sunday Ticket, which currently has a price point for the entire season in the range of $ 300. Similarly, an existing streaming service like ESPN + can not only add a Sunday Ticket at no extra cost to increase subscribers.
It makes sense. CBS and Fox want people to see the games offered at their local markets. If the Sunday Ticket is too affordable, that’s it see you later to the usual Sunday viewing of affiliates in a given area.
Although I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of Sherman’s report, I would like to approach it from a different perspective. The NFL negotiated new contracts with CBS and Fox last year, knowing that the clock was ticking on the Sunday Ticket. If the NFL wanted to create a way for cheaper access to the Sunday Ticket, it could have changed the term in the CBS and Fox agreements.
The NFL did not. Presumably it would not. CBS and Fox would probably have offered much less to the NFL if it really was easier and cheaper for fans to get a Sunday Ticket, even though the games available on the local market via CBS and Fox are obscured. The NFL similarly positioned itself for a bigger payday for the Sunday Ticket, given that anyone who wants it will go with significant money for the privilege of watching games other than those offered locally for free.
In other words, the NFL uses the full scope of its antitrust broadcasting exemption to maximize revenue from CBS, Fox and DirecTV by accepting and / or imposing terms that make it more expensive for fans living in Jacksonville, for example, but a mess for the Steelers. to see all Pittsburgh games.
There are inherent antitrust issues with telling fans that their only way, if they live in Jacksonville, to watch all the Steelers games is to buy the entire Sunday Ticket package. Fans should be able to buy a Sunday ticket one game at a time, or one week at a time. Instead, it was – and will continue to be – a significant expense for all fans who do not live in the market where their favorite team plays to follow the one team that drew them to the NFL in the first place.
Think about it. The NFL wants you to have a favorite team. But the NFL subtly steers you toward the team where you live, by making it much more expensive to see the team you would rather see. There was a chance last year to make it cheaper by revising terms that protect local CBS and Fox games, and the NFL did not.
So while football is family, greed is good.