Could we see NFL football on every night of the week? Mike Florio thinks so. He told Pat McAfee that it seems like the league wants to own television in the near future with games on seven days a week. 92.3 The Fan’s Andy Baskin hates the idea.
On the station’s It’s Always GameDay in Cleveland podcast this week, Baskin and co-host Daryl Ruiter agreed that the NFL could be messing with what is nearly perfect.
“I am concerned that the league is going to get too big and oversaturate its product,” Ruiter said.
Baskin took it a step further. He cited the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which says that the NFL can play games on Fridays and Saturdays, but those games cannot be broadcast during the regular seasons of high school in college football. Baskin says the act was meant to protect amateur football, but it is in the NFL’s best interest too.
“Let’s not forget that the base and the reason that you get kids to play in the NFL is because they want to be that guy on any given Sunday that can score touchdowns and the best way to provide that product and to continue to get kids to want to play is to let everybody watch them. If you’re playing on Friday night during high school football, it’s not good.”
It’s feasible that adults would stay away from high school games if NFL football were on Fridays. Even some young people might choose to do the same, but the ones that really matter to the league’s future are the ones playing the sport.
Andy Baskin isn’t opposed to the NFL’s calendar expanding each week. He just hopes the league is making the decision based on its best interests in the long term.
“It’s one thing if they want to play on Tuesday or Wednesday. I kind of get that,” he said. “But when they mess with Friday or Saturday, they’re messing with their future.”
