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by poulsbohemian 3159 days ago
Long time NFL GamePass subscriber here... no commercials, watch any game I want when I want - it's a completely superior experience to cable / OTA. I get that the NFL wants to maximize its revenue by selling rights, but they could likely provide their own real-time streaming service and every football fan on the planet would be happy to pay for it.
4 comments
apendleton 3159 days ago
Yes, but nobody else would. Lots of the people paying for ESPN don't do so by choice, they do so because it comes as part of their cable package whether they watch it or not (this was me pre-cord-cutting).
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Digory 3159 days ago
Gamepass is $75 right now.

Back of the envelope, every viewer of MNF would need to pay $200 just to keep MNF and one wildcard game. More to get Sunday, Thursday, the playoffs and the Superbowl. Easily $300 - $400 per viewer a year.

That's a hard sell.

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kodablah 3159 days ago
> it's a completely superior experience to cable / OTA

Can't watch ALL games live right? That's hardly completely superior. IMO, NFL would make less money on direct sales than they do when they charge networks which charge all cable subscribers (even via retransmission fees for those of us who can't get OTA) AND charge advertisers. That double dip is going to net more money than a specialized service for NFL fans.

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jsmthrowaway 3159 days ago
> Can't watch ALL games live right? That's hardly completely superior.

You can't on television, either.

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kodablah 3159 days ago
True. You also can't even watch your local game live either IIRC. I should have made that clear...it is NOT completely superior.
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samsolomon 3159 days ago
I'm with you on commercials, but I don't believe NFL GamePass includes live games? I'm big on fantasy, so live games are important.

I pay about $30 to Sling TV just for Redzone. I've never watched any of the other channels that come with it. When the regular season ends I just cancel Sling.

I'd be happy handing over the $150/season or so directly to the NFL. Unfortunately, I'm probably worth more to advertisers just because of that.

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poulsbohemian 3159 days ago
Look friends, all I'm saying is, the NFL has other options. In its current form (IE: non-live except for pre-season) I get that the customer base is small. BUT, if ESPN or other parties drop the ball, the NFL could monetize their games through a direct-to-consumer model, IE: just because the games aren't live today doesn't mean they couldn't be in the future. Would I pay $200/year for every NFL game sans commercials? Heck yes.
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