• by George Simpson , Featured Contributor, October 3, 2019

The other night, my youngest son (22) and I discussed if we would watch an NFL game about to start on linear TV. In the end, we agreed that the match-up did not warrant sitting through the commercial load. 

I thought it interesting that our decision wasn’t driven by the odds, the chance to watch one of the better emerging QBs, or if the game would end up being dramatic. Rather it was about how annoying it is to watch any sports live on TV now, because of the number and frequency of commercials.  

I routinely record college football games for at least an hour before starting to watch in order to skip the commercials. 

It was in this context that I read that worldwide sports rights revenues will grow 75% by 2025 to $85.1 billion (from $48.6 billion in 2018), according to a research group. 

Which to me says that the networks (or other broadcast partners) will either have to start charging audiences fees to watch individual live games or that the commercial load will only get crushingly worse. Probably both.

It has been years since professional sports teams (with colleges not far behind) priced the average guy out of attending live games. The last time I took my daughter to a Yankees game, it cost about $750 all in all — and those were so-so seats well beyond the dugout in the upper deck.  

Additional aside: “pitching duels” do not enhance the ROI on $750. Last season, MLB attendance dropped to its lowest average in 15 years (small wonder, with an average ticket price of +$75.)

Attending a local college game is like falling into a sewer of commercial messages, with tent card ads lining the sidelines and billboards festooning every available inch of stadium wall space, audio and videoboard ads blaring at every break, and first- and third-down announcements associated with sponsors. 

I expect corporate logos on helmets at any moment. After all, they are already on jerseys in any number of other sports.

There has to be a tipping point beyond which consumers simply say “enough!” and stop attending and/or watching live sports coverage. I know that live attendance is falling for most pro sports, and that college football games almost never sell out any more. 

Interestingly, live sports are said to be the savior of networks TV delivering audiences that far surpass those who tune in for drama, news, reality TV, etc. But I suspect I am not the only one who is skipping games that I might otherwise watch because it takes nearly 4 hours of commercial time to see a typical football game that in reality is less than 15 minutes of actual play. Recording games gets them down to about an hour.

Years ago, at least one broadcast network used to digest all of Notre Dame’s football games, and on Sunday mornings (ironically) would show you everything worth watching from the game in under an hour.

Now that’s something I would pay for today.