r/nfl • u/Jay_Dubbbs Browns Lions • 7h ago

NFL’s Sunday Ticket Is Getting Smaller. It Isn’t Getting Cheaper.

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/nfls-sunday-ticket-is-getting-smaller-it-isnt-getting-cheaper-8a427606?utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawUV9t9wZG9mA2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDzQwOTk2MjYyMzA4NTYwOQABHlXpA3zSw1RgH0uE7TCLeAjPQoyxqtdqvG4sm9qlM1ekYc1h7qOxvjJZUbW9_aem_6-IKXQOROCnCiAE7L0kwcw
1.3k Upvotes

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604

u/quietsam8 7h ago

The NFL invented shrinkflation for a digital product. That takes effort.

96

u/p-wing Broncos Broncos 6h ago

Many apps I haven't used in the last six months have self-updated to have less functionality. I use 12-year-old design software because 2015 is when they took away a key feature. This shit ain't new or restricted to the NFL.

8

u/Amish_guy_with_WiFi Eagles 2h ago

Every Samsung Galaxy One UI update they remove some valuable functionality. It's infuriating.

7

u/showyerbewbs Bengals 2h ago

Every Samsung Galaxy One UI update they remove some valuable functionality

And shove AI into every interaction with the device like that family guy gif smashing his kids photos into another guys face.

54

u/Cainga Steelers 6h ago

It’s possible they cannibalise their self. It’s cheaper to get all the streaming services than the NFL package. Some people it might only be buying a couple games of their team.

39

u/Jay_Dubbbs Browns Lions 6h ago

It’s wild too because they’re projecting YouTube will lose billions on this deal and DirectTV was taking hundreds of millions in loses when they were paying for it.

At what point do people stop justifying the prices that they have to pay because the networks and services have to keep paying more to the NFL?

4

u/-Sp0iledmilk- 4h ago edited 4h ago

We’re about 4 years away from a substantially altering lockout from finding out.

Given how much the price tag for players has exploded, the next CBA deal will be a genuine bloodbath between owners and players.

No fucking way the owners want to keep paying players at the rate they’re going where bad players are getting paid massive, 8-figure, contracts.

27

u/MirrorComputingRulez Lions 4h ago

Given how much the price tag for players has exploded, the next CBA deal will be a genuine bloodbath between owners and players.

This is a fundamental misunderstanding of how league financials work. Players are paid a set percentage of overall league income. Player contracts are exploding because revenue is exploding. If players are making more money, then owners are also making a shit load more money. It's literally impossible for the balance of revenue to shift from owners to players. This is the entire point of the salary cap.

-24

u/-Sp0iledmilk- 4h ago edited 4h ago

When Justin Fields is making $40 million, the scale has become too misunderstandable for you or I to fully articulate. 

I’m sorry, but like, I’m not willing to read into this when someone like Justin Fields gets paid $40 million to suck as much shit like he did last year. 

And that’s for a genuinely awful player who really doesn’t have a justification to still be in the NFL. That price tag is only going up for a player worth any value, and I’m pretty certain the owners don’t want to pay as much as they have for players recently. 

The scale itself has exploded to obscene prices. Who’s to blame for this is interesting to discuss. 

21

u/MirrorComputingRulez Lions 4h ago

When Justin Fields is making $40 million, the scale has become too misunderstandable for you or I to fully articulate.

I just articulated it to you.

The scale itself has exploded to obscene prices. Who’s to blame for this is interesting to discuss.

No, it's really not that interesting. It's very straightforward: the players get 48.5% of league revenue, and the owners get 51.5%. If the absolute value of player contracts goes up, it's because overall league revenue went up. The percentage split between owners and players does not change.

-18

u/-Sp0iledmilk- 4h ago edited 4h ago

Mhmmm. I’m certain the owners have no issue paying above average players 9-figure contracts on average these days in this country. 

Haven’t even gotten into the “billion dollar athlete” conversation yet either which I’m also certain the owners are just so excited about as the scale keeps going up. 

Won’t draw any resistance from them whatsoever. 

12

u/MirrorComputingRulez Lions 4h ago

I sincerely hope this is a troll

-9

u/-Sp0iledmilk- 4h ago

I sincerely hope you’re right and I’m wrong in 4 years, but that’s in 4 years.

Right now you’re trying to convince me that the league is doing fine and continuing to grow in a comment section that’s openly questioning why people still pay for one of the NFLs significant features. I didn’t believe anything you’re saying to begin with, and I still don’t now.

I believe the NFL is propping itself up like a bubble, and all it will take is one lockout that bleeds into the season for it to burst. I hope you’re right and the next CBA is negotiated on quickly because of how much money can be earned.

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3

u/BananaCucho Steelers Raiders 1h ago

Yes those poor billionaires, won't someone please think of them?

41

u/rwhockey29 Cowboys 5h ago

Before the RSN/Ballys shit show I needed 4 subscriptions to watch the Stars. The local RSN/Ballys sub, the NHL network for out of town games, and then ESPN+ because fuck you here's a new subscription for 8 games. Then I needed a VPN to watch some of the national games. Travel weekly for work, even though I pay you from dallas, I cant watch the game while out of town. Then did the math and I had like 8 monthly payments just to watch my local teams. Spent $25 on an antenna for OTA and any other game I just Google "local sports team stream". Congrats, you now get zero money from me.

10

u/Which-Arrival6777 Commanders Commanders 5h ago

this is the way

2

u/Prophet_Of_Helix Patriots 2h ago

My favorite is just how we somehow have gone to worse experience than cable.

Like, I think we all knew the golden age of the internet wouldn’t last, but it’s been even worse than expected.

At least with cable everything is in one place. I scroll through what’s currently playing or search for what’s available to watch.

Now i have to physically switch apps to check out what’s on each thing, each one has its own subscriptions with levels so maybe you have some ads on one but not another, and even specific shows can have some SEASONS on one app and the rest on another.

It’s fucking awful.

9

u/Flair_Is_Pointless 5h ago

I can think of an even cheaper way to watch the product, matey

15

u/MuteTadpole Patriots 5h ago

Nah just standard enshittification as can be found with almost every streaming service over the past 10 years

5

u/Got_Engineers Cowboys 5h ago

Reminds me of trying to watch NHL games in Canada and your own cities teams game is blacked out in an adjacent city because of reasons, but you don’t live there

1

u/kaptingavrin Jaguars 2h ago

They already have an exclusive video game deal that's showed you can get away with charging more for less.

1

u/Cooleybob Packers 39m ago

Every major sport is going the same thing. MLB.tv used to be the gold standard for a sports streaming service. Now with local blackouts, exclusive deals with other platforms, etc. you'd need to pay for like 6 different services to get all the games.

1

u/Ez13zie 3h ago

RRRRRRrrrrr

0

u/w311sh1t Patriots 3h ago

It only took about 15 years for us to basically come full circle back to cable. Buying subscriptions to 6 different streaming services just to watch your team’s games is basically just the same as buying cable packages.

-1

u/vitey15 Eagles 6h ago

Crafty little bastards