Suffice to say, I am stunned at the desperation of a struggling network.
First of all, we have 3 week 17 re-matches. That is unprecedented in it of itself. But that is just chance more than anything and is not something I will spend anymore time now.
However, it is a precedent that I noticed several years ago that Fox and CBS alternate with the 1:00 PM ET and 4:30 PM ET playoff games. CBS had the 1:00 last year and Fox had the 4:30 last year, therefore the precedent would be Fox to have the 1:00 this year and CBS to have the 4:30. Now Arizona cannot play at the 1:00 PM ET Fox game because games cannot start before 12 noon local time. And a 1:00 ET start would mean that the Cards would kickoff at 10:00 AM local time and that can't happen.
So what does that mean? The Cardinals would be playing on Saturday at either 4:30 or 8:00 alongside an AFC playoff game. However, that is not the case.
Now one would think that NBC would be giddy with the possibility of a Ravens-Patriots playoff match up as love them or hate them, everyone has feelings towards the Patriots and the Ravens have well known players (Lewis, Reed, etc.) and are in a pretty big market. But either NBC did not want that and wanted the juggular, the NFL did not want to give the Pats another primetime game, or CBS did not want another network to air the Patriots when Nantz and Simms have followed them around so much this year that it's borderline stalkerish. Whatever the reason, the Ravens and the Patriots are on CBS. At 1:00.
I know. My first, second, third, and fourth thoughts of learning of this change was "WHAT THE HELL???". Instead of being on 1:00 on Fox like everyone thought Eagles-Cowboys would be, including Terry Bradshaw who was so bold as to say that that would be the game on Fox, the Birds and the 'Boys are now the 8:00 primetime game on NBC. Like I said, WHAT THE HELL?
So what does that leave the Cards who can't play at 1:00 ET? They are on 4:30 PM ET on Fox. So for the second year in a row, CBS has a Sunday 1:00 wildcard game and Fox has a 4:30 wildcard game.
Here is your schedule with confirmed announcers. (all times PM eastern)
Saturday, January 9
#5 New York Jets @ #4 Cincinnati Bengals 4:30 (NBC - Tom Hammond, Joe Theismann, and Joe Gibbs, SR: Tiki Barber)
#6 Philadelphia Eagles @ #3 Dallas Cowboys 8:00 (NBC - Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth, SR: Andrea Kremer)
Sunday, January 10
#6 Baltimore Ravens @ #3 New England Patriots 1:00 (CBS - Jim Nantz and Phil Simms)
#5 Green Bay Packers @ #4 Arizona Cardinals 4:30 (Fox - Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, SR: Pam Oliver and Chris Myers)
Simply unbelievable. But when you are the lowest rated TV network and you have a deal with the NFL, I guess you can beg and plead and cry that you don't want 2 unappealing playoff matches and the NFL will grant you or wish. Or something. I have no idea what the hell happened other than executives at NBC are jumping up and down and doing cartwheels because of it.
And no, I will not say a word about the Eagles debacle in Week 17. I'm too embarrassed to even critique that all-around lack of effort and execution against a team that was hot and wanted to win.
You would think NBC would be giddy with the Patriots...but if Brady's out and NE has to start a rookie..well all of a sudden they aren't that attractive.
ReplyDeleteAnd, frankly, I'm all right with anything that makes Terry Bradshaw look like a fool.
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ReplyDeleteAlso, NBC is the same network who after saying they would televise the first 2 games of last year's Stanley Cup Finals and somehow influenced the NHL to schedule an unheard of back-to-back to start.
ReplyDeleteIt was to not have Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show debut run derailed by potentially lower ratings with a weak lead-in. NBC didn't want the NHL to start on a weekday so we got NHL and NBA Finals competing against each other on certain nights.
They also had the swimming and gymnastics finals at the Beijing Olympics starting at 10 AM local time so they could show it LIVE to the U.S. or only some of the country (Taped on the West Coast).
They schedule sporting events specifically with ratings in mind and affect the competition in some cases..
@ Al: The lengths at which NBC will go sometimes truly is astounding. Personally, I'm not really affected by this time "change", if you will, but it amazes me what they try to and do pull-off.
ReplyDeleteAll I know is that Fox can't be happy right now and CBS can't be pleased as they lost the 4:30 PM ET Sunday game, which is generally the best slot for football. Saturday night games are made out to be more prestigious than they actually are ratings wise. Then again, the logic if you put a bad game on Saturday night no one will watch at all, but if you put the best game on Saturday night, you can get people to watch.
If NBC did not get the re-scheduling done, we were looking at possibly one of the worst looking Saturdays in the history of Wildcard weekend. It does balance out a little more nicely this way.
I mean the schedule is fantastic but A.) it wasn't the original one supposedly, B.) there was a supposed rotation for this round which the NFL alledgedly goes by that was broken and C.) Fox said they would have DAL/PHI on the air.
ReplyDeleteVery weird.
How can you rip NBC for having competitions in 08 start at favorable times for them to show it live? Where they screwed up,was not showing it live across the country. That's going to be even tougher to pull off this winter w/ the explosion of Twitter. As to hockey ratings, hockey has always been a niche sport and probably always will. NBC is showing the prelim USA/CAN match live in primetime on one of the Sunday nights, so I'll be curious to see what kind of number it gets.
ReplyDeleteAs to Fox, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but negotiations still had to be going as they went off the air. Any chance you think they tried to force the NFL's hand by announcing the game ahead of time and present it as a fait accompli?
CBS will be fine. They will be able to start 60 Minutes as scheduled, and Nantz can slobber all over the Pats as usual.
It will be great to watch World Cup 2010 - A1, i have bought tickets from
ReplyDeletehttp://ticketfront.com/event/World_Cup_2010_A1-tickets looking forward to it.