Who made the decision not to have a football game tonight? Is it an agreement between the NFL and MLB? Is it an agreement between the netowrks? Did the NFL or NBC just think that they wouldn't get enough people watching? I would think that SNF would get more people watching than whatever rerun NBC trots out, and if it was a good interesting game, then it may come close to rivaling the WS.
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Why no SNF tonight? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter T Love
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Ookie Pringle
Footballguy
This is nothing new. It has been like this for several years.
FreeBaGeL
Footballguy
True, but the question the OP asks is still valid.What is the motivation to not show the game tonight? The NFL and NBC would both make less money than a typical SNF game, but they'd also both be making a lot more money than they would by not having a game tonight.Is it just a show of good faith by the NFL towards the MLB? From NBC towards Fox?Or maybe the NFL wants the same price from NBC to show the game tonight as any other SNF game, and NBC feels they should get tonight's game at a discount because of the WS?
Grigs Allmoon
Footballguy
I couldn't even name a player on either team playing in the WS, but I think I might put it on, and keep an eye on the commercials for some products/services to boycott. 
massraider
Footballguy
I had this same question. What is the motivation for the NFL, and especially NBC, to do this?
Ookie Pringle
Footballguy
It is a part of the TV contract the NFL signed in 2005 with NBC and ESPN for their Primetime contract. Prior to that they had the Sunday night games moved to Thursday nights during the World Series.
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This still doesn't explain the why. Are they doing it because the NFL would have charged too much as someone said earlier, or is there some other reason? I would think that someone on this board has some sort of insider information.
Jimmy James
Footballguy
I think it's probably an agreement of sorts between MLB, NFL, and the networks (NBC, ESPN, and Fox). I'm guessing that baseball agreed to not put games 3 and 7 on Sundays in exchange for a game 4 without football competition on Sunday night. The real killer the NFL/NBC is avoiding is a SNF game nobody watches because everybody is watching game 7 of the World Series.
ETA: Obviously, the most watched game of a Series is likely to be the championship winning one. The most compelling scenarios are a 4 game sweep and a 7 game series. The NFL avoids competing with either with this strategy.
ETA: Obviously, the most watched game of a Series is likely to be the championship winning one. The most compelling scenarios are a 4 game sweep and a 7 game series. The NFL avoids competing with either with this strategy.
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GiantsRule
Footballguy
NFL is cutting MLB a break - the know that the majority of people would rather watch Lions vs. Bengals than baseball. After what seems like 5,000 games of ball scratching (take that as you will) and another 200 for the playoffs, the final 4-7 games don't mean squat for the average football fan. He'd rather watch a prime time football game for the love of the sport, or simply feed a last ditch gambling jones.
lion_crazz
Footballguy
A lot of the attitudes in this thread surprise me. I cannot believe one poster cannot name anyone on the Phillies franchise. They have the home run leader and last year's league MVP.
I also don't believe anyone would rather watch the Detroit Lions play the Cincinnati Bengals than the WS.
I also don't believe anyone would rather watch the Detroit Lions play the Cincinnati Bengals than the WS.
But the Pittsburgh-NYG game may have gotten higher ratings, or at the very least not been too far behind.
whole-show
Footballguy
whole-show
Footballguy
I remember John Kruk and Lenny Dykstra or "Wild Thing" Mitch Williams...Yes I was always a big baseball fan but after the last strike never got into it again. Not that I was mad about it, might of been a little, but just lost interest in it after that.
lion_crazz
Footballguy
NFL not having a SNF cannot have too much to do with the World Series, as the NFL did not cancel their MNF game, even though there is a World Series game tomorrow as well.
Doctor Detroit
Please remove your headgear
Because MLB and the NFL have an agreement and baseball has been around a lot longer.
lion_crazz
Footballguy
You'd think the agreement would be for the MNF game then - since both of these are much more important. The Phillies could take the series tomorrow, which would be a huge game for Philly. The NFL could have gone forward with its SNF game, since tonight's WS game had much less significance.Doctor Detroit said:
Doctor Detroit
Please remove your headgear
This is incorrect. The highest rated Sunday night game over the past two years was 11.6 and a 19 share and average but the average is more like 9/15 . Baseball draws 18 or 19 shares and 11+ for all their games but it is down this year because of Tampa and because of the late start last night. Saying more people would watch the Lions and Bengals is false since the World Series has beaten Monday Night football every time they've gone head to head. HTH.GiantsRule said:
Doctor Detroit
Please remove your headgear
Well it doesn't help the NFL or MLB to go up against one another when we are talking World Series. Football fanatics can talk all they want about football being so much better and all that but they will lose a lot of their SNF and MNF ratings if there is a World Series game (especially a clinching game). I think the NFL is right to not have SNF and I think if baseball is going to have a Monday World Series game they should start at 6pm EST and then start the MNF game at 9:30. Everyone wins.
griz145389
Footballguy
Not only could I not name one player on either team, I would be hard pressed to name more than 5 current MLB players. I haven't watched or listened to a baseball game in over 10 years. I would rather watch the Bengals or Lions walk through practice than a baseball game.lion_crazz said:
ummmm. i cant name a WS player either, and I would much rather see a football game. I think baseball is dying. I watched it as A kid, then as I grew up iy just wasnt very interesting or fun to watch for me. I think alot of the younger generation has no interest in it. I dont know many people who follow MLB. After the steroid era, MLB has got to get even more boring. Football is now america's pastime. sorryGiantsRule said:
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Grigs Allmoon
Footballguy
I'm going to need another hint.lion_crazz said:
FreeBaGeL
Footballguy
You're not really addressing the point at all though. Yes, they will lose ratings, we get that. But they will still have very good ratings, far and away enough to still be very profitable.It would be one thing if they were just moving the game to another night where it wouldn't have to compete with the World Series to maximize profits, but canceling altogether is just minimizing profits.Think of it like this, though it's wildly over-simplified. Let's say that the NFL and NBC make $10 million each for a normal SNF game (these are just arbitrary made-up numbers). Against the world series, they'll lose some audience and only make $7 million each. So, rather than "only" make $7 million each, they just cancel the game altogether and decide to make zero dollars each? That doesn't make any business sense...
Follows Closely
Footballguy
I would.lion_crazz said:
Doctor Detroit
Please remove your headgear
Yes I thought of this. What it boils down to is how much does the NFL lose by moving say the Giants and Steelers from the SNF game to the national Fox game at 4 instead of putting it up against baseball? Probably not much and I'm sure MLB pays them back in some fashion for anything they may have lost. Business is all about the bottom line but greasing wheels always makes that bottom line look better down the road.
