FLEX SCHEDULING NOT AS FLEXIBLE AS ADVERTISED
Earlier on Tuesday (it feels like 12 hours ago with everything that's been going on) we spent some time on the looming concept of flexible scheduling, which in theory promises to give NBC the ability to pick on a weekly basis its Sunday night game for seven of the last eight weeks of the season.
But according to Richard Sandomir of the New York Times, the process isn't as flexible as first thought.
NBC already has been given a tentative schedule of games by the NFL. Though NBC retains the ability to pick other games each week, NFL Senior V.P. for Media Operations Howard Katz told Sandomir that NBC won't get everything it wants.
"We have to look at what losing a game will do to the competitive balance between CBS and FOX," Katz said. "NBC can't say, 'I want this game because it's unprotected."
And as to the ability of FOX and CBS to block games, Sandomir also reports that FOX and CBS were required to exercise four of their "protections" after Week Four, for the games to be played during Week Ten through Week Fifteen. FOX and CBS will be allowed to make their final blocks each for Week Seventeen within six to 12 days before the December 31 games.
It's a benefit to NBC, since a Week Fifteen game that justified protection after Week Four could go south, especially if one of the teams involved in the protected game loses its quarterback for the season. Still, as noted above, the fact that a game is unprotected doesn't mean that NBC will be able to snatch it.
NBC's tentative schedule, per Sandomir, includes the Bears and Giants on November 12, the Redskins and Bucs on November 19, the Eagles and Colts on November 26, the Seahawks and Broncos on December 3, the Patriots and Dolphins on December 10, the Chiefs and Chargers on December 17, and the Steelers and Bengals on December 31.
Another factor influencing this process is the limitation on the number of times a team may play in prime time. Five appearances on NBC, ESPN, and NFLN is the maximum, with three teams allowed to make a sixth appearance.
So what appeared to be a week-in, week-out matter of intrigue and bluffing and the kind of off-field stuff that adds spice to the league won't be as big of a deal as we thought. And that's a shame. The NFL could have conjured up some compelling programming for its in-house network, via a weekly show in which suits from NBC, CBS, and FOX would determine the Sunday night game to be played 12 days later. The reality is, apparently, that the process isn't as loose as it seemed to be, and the league retains a significant degree of control over the process, probably to ensure that none of the three networks involved feel like they are getting screwed.
Then again, what leverage does a network that feels like it's getting screwed really have? The only alternative is to not give the NFL billions of dollars for the right to air the most popular sport in the country.
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