NFL's Greed Keeping TV Games From Fans

January 7, 2008
The Capital Times (WI)
Letter to the Editor By Willie Wood

Dear Editor:

Your recent article, "NFL agrees to change channel," failed to point out that the NFL will continue to block access to local games next year and in the future as long as the league takes games off of free TV to inflate the value of its NFL Network.

For the last two years, the NFL has blacked out eight games in secondary markets in an attempt to force all cable and satellite customers to pay for the NFL Network.

And even though the NFL buckled recently and allowed the Patriots-Giants game to air on broadcast TV, league executives have made clear that they merely live for another day.

The NFL already has unsuccessfully lobbied lawmakers in a number of states and in Washington, asking them to force this deal on consumers, and they're backing it up with a $100 million public relations campaign declaring war on any cable company that wants to put the network on a sports tier, which allows only those fans that want the extra few games to subscribe to them.

The entire saga has reminded us that we can love the game and its players while guffawing at those smarmy executives who will think nothing of driving up the cost of enjoying the game to average families. That kind of greed can only be characterized as unsportsmanlike conduct.

Willie Wood
Washington, D.C.
Former safety for the Green Bay Packers