Commentary

CBS, NFL Tackle Rights Fees

A while back, CBS sports chief Sean McManus recounted a conversation with NBCUniversal counterpart Dick Ebersol, where they agreed it would be brutal operating a broadcast network without the NFL. Wow, does the league know it. A judge's ruling this week details how unyielding the NFL can be in pursuing massive rights fees. Then again, sports TV can be a seed for greed -- on both sides of a table.

Outwardly, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has referred to the networks as "great partners." No question -- you can get a lot of praise when you pay billions of dollars a year.

Ebersol is known to be chummy with the powers that control Olympic TV rights, helping NBC land them -- repeatedly. When NBC had the NBA, he was hand and glove with commissioner David Stern.

He's shared some good times with Goodell, but they may not be so cordial of late, though both know business is business. It was very surprising when Ebersol coarsely recounted rough negotiations in 2009 that NBC had with the league.

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"There was a coldness, and a 'that's it' kind of tone in Roger's voice that was chilling," Ebersol told Sports Illustrated's Peter King.

Goodell and the league suffered a rebuke from the federal judge Tuesday. He assailed the NFL's tactics in securing deals that will allow it to collect rights fees -- even if games are lost next season due to a current labor standoff with the players.

According to U.S. District Judge David Doty, the NFL would still get $4 billion in cash from the networks, DirecTV and Verizon if there were a lockout. Yes, the NFL would have to pay it back -- except for $421 million. Maybe that's a sort of transactional fee.

Judge Doty augments Ebersol's commentary on NFL ruthlessness. As the league negotiated in 2008-09 to ensure it would get paid if there were a lockout, it fiercely resisted all objections. Fox balked, but the NFL viewed a refusal as a "deal breaker," the judge wrote. ESPN asked to be left out, but was told digital rights it received from the league was reason enough for it to pony up.

Judge Doty did not mention Ebersol by name, but wrote that at one point NBC felt the NFL was "hosing" it. In exchange for acceding to NFL work-stoppage demands, the NFL agreed not to raise rights fees for three seasons, give NBC some streaming rights for "Sunday Night Football" and allow NBC to carry an extra game for the 2010-13 seasons.

As long as Americans continue their fascination with the NFL and networks feel they can't live without the games, Goodell should go undefeated. Judge Doty cited testimony, where a network executive said: "You've reached the absolute limits of your power as a major network" when the commissioner calls saying: "Pay this or move on."

The networks will continue to pay and downfield, advertisers, cable operators, affiliates and consumers will, too.

1 comment about "CBS, NFL Tackle Rights Fees".
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  1. Joe Jacobs, March 4, 2011 at 3:34 p.m.

    Wow. The level of greed displayed by the NFL owners and total lack of consideration of their partners - primarily the players - is staggering when you think about it.

    It's getting so a dad can't take his kid to an NFL game. It's just too expensive for the average American. And yet, they want still more.

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