Ravens owner Bisciotti urges NFL to reduce commercial breaks

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wants less money.

longer commercials in half time, end of quarters, and during timeouts?

except I'm sure he was looking for every last nickel from the networks when negotiating their TV deals. Those networks need to get their money back somehow.

I don't watch a lot of college games anymore because of how long it takes. I tuned in right before kickoff of the National Championship game and when the announcer mentioned "This should be exciting and we'll find out who the champion will be in about 4-5 hours"....... I just turned the channel right then.

I'm all for sponsors on jerseys and/or superimposing ads on to the field like they do with the 1st down marker and down and distance graphics.

Maybe something like, "McDonald's 2nd and 5"

wear ads on their uniforms?

is the reason something as nonsensical as the two minute warning still exists.

In comment 13332265 spike said:

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longer commercials in half time, end of quarters, and during timeouts?

We're trying to make the NFL more money now?

In comment 13332267 Enzo said:

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except I'm sure he was looking for every last nickel from the networks when negotiating their TV deals. Those networks need to get their money back somehow.

That's the thing about it.

NFL wants all the money from the TV networks and won't take a dime less.

The TV networks need to find ways to pay for all the money they have shelled out to the NFL.

The one way? More ads/commercials!

You can't have both, wanting all the money and less advertising. Of course, you can do what Augusta National did for a couple years and simply go commercial free.

We all know THAT will not go down.

If they were to integrate ads into the gameplay itself, a TV broadcast will sound like what it does on the radio now.

One example:

Teams enters the red zone - Sponsored by Heinz

(Suddenly the 20 yard line to the end zone is technologically painted in red with a picture of a ketchup bottle)

Oh the pain.

about ads on the sidelines or referees wearing ads

is huge...gets big TV money. But their games, generally speaking, are shown with very few commercials. So how can they get away with it (and their players are paid huge money) and not the NFL?

In comment 13332320 That’s Gold, Jerry said:

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is huge...gets big TV money. But their games, generally speaking, are shown with very few commercials. So how can they get away with it (and their players are paid huge money) and not the NFL?

Soccer games with their own structure do not have natural breaks built in. They play with a running clock and then add time if needed after the half is over.

When a ball goes out, the clock continues. When a foul is committed, the clock continues. When a corner kick is in play, the clock continues.

Can you imagine if soccer stopped play for 2 minutes when any of these events took place? It would look weird.

The NFL doesn't play with a running clock, so it allows for those type of breaks with commercials.

In comment 13332320 That’s Gold, Jerry said:

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is huge...gets big TV money. But their games, generally speaking, are shown with very few commercials. So how can they get away with it (and their players are paid huge money) and not the NFL?

2 big reasons, IMO. First, its the 1 and only major sport in Europe so they have no choice but to keep their fanbase happy and interested. Second, its always been this way so there's no reason for them to change. For the NFL, going to a game with no commercials will destroy profits these teams are used to getting.

the NFL should have fewer but more expensive commercials.

everyone wins.

Soccer just doesn't allow for official breaks during gameplay.

*Bisciotti

otherwise ratings will decrease. Current and Future consumers of the sport will continue to watch less football if the ads aren't diminished. The only way I watch football other than the Giants is Red Zone Channel on Sunday (or channel surfing between games). The exception are national games in which I do something else and have the game on muted. I cannot sit through a barrage of the same battery of commercials. It wears you out. My adult kids do not watch the games as entire contests. They watch for a few minutes then watch highlights on the internet. The current and newer consumers will not waste their time watching commercials with some action in between. Its not fun. Years ago people had little else to do. Its a different social climate and even people cloistered in no mans land have entertainment options galore. The NFL has to battle for attention.

the absurdity for me was the week 17 game. I had to miss it live because my youngest had a hockey game in NH and I am the coach.

I got home, avoided all media, and had the game on DVR.

the entire 3+ hour game took me about 15 minutes to watch. and I watched every play just fast forwarded through the bullshit.

How much actual game action, plays, do you think are in a football game?

Not much. add in the crap Bisciotti talks about like commercials after a score, a kick-off, go to commercial, and injury on the kick-off when they come back, go to commercial, a challenge, go to commercial.

without even considering game action there are approximately 2 hours of commercials for an hour of football.

it's absurd.

Eliminating the ads between kickoffs and less frequently running ads between change of possession is an obvious fix. The ads are annoying but like many others have mentioned, except for with the Giants, on NFL Sunday I'm either time shifting with TiVo or watching Redzone.

I wish the NFL would develop a product that allows me to purchase a live video feed of the game without any ads or commentary. I would be like being at the game without the travel or the drunken morons in the seats. Pure football viewing enjoyment. What would I pay for that? A lot. Not PSL/season ticket money, but I'd still pay a lot for this sort of season pass to the Giants. In the olde times of early pro football the teams needed the networks to get the games out with broadcast and produced product for the masses. There's still a need and money to be made in that segment but the more sophisticated NFL would love a high def live action video feed on game day.

But I enjoy the games not I a hurry to get them over with.

Unless it's a playoff game (and even sometimes even if it is), I record games on the DVR, go do something for 30 min to 45 min, then start watching the game and fast forward through the commercials. If I get caught up, I pause, go do something and then come back. I HATE commercials.

Another option is to bring something with me to do (work on a hobby or project) and when they go to the commercial break I hit the mute button, look away from the TV and unmute when play resumes.

the NFL should do what the NHL does and have set TV timeouts at logical breaks in play (so you don't disrupt a hurry up offense for example just because of timing).

In the NHL per wikipedia:

Quote:

TV timeouts are two minutes long, and occur three times per period, during normal game stoppages after the 6, 10, and 14 minute marks of the period, unless there is a power play, a goal that has just been scored, or the stoppage was as a result of an icing.

So in the same 60 minute game there are 18 minutes of commercials/timeouts and 36 minutes (18 each) between periods, so 54 minutes of "commercials" or timeout. vs the NFL with my estimate around 120 minutes of commercials/timeouts.

An extra hour.

was extremely deceitful..Have resented that a great deal..

Going to commercial from beginning of Challenge review to the official's decision, is fine with me..It's either that or watch someone under the hood and 2 million replays

don't seem to be grasping is every time they cut to a commercial is an opportunity to lose viewers.

When even diehards have a difficult time sitting through a game, you've got a real problem.

Biscotti summed it up nicely but I'd add cramming a commercial in when a 30-second time-out is granted, and then quickly hurrying back to catch the snap, is equally ridiculous. Those time-outs usually happen in important sequences late in games and you lose that drama by cutting away.

Reminds me of the UFC on FOX, they skip the walk-outs and the between rounds chatter in the corners. You lose the magic the sport provides.

the number of commercial breaks, etc. They shortened the average NFL game significantly from 150-160 plays.

A shorter game means less to me than more football action per game.

Add this to the rules favoring offense and you suck.

. . . I DVR it, and start watching maybe 90 minutes late, fast-forwarding. I easily catch up by the second half.

If it's a game I'm NOT completely into, I have a book in my lap, and I read when the commercial load gets too high, and my ears will pick up when the announcers get excited about something.

The EPL is on Sky Sports in England, which is a premium channel like HBO. It is very expensive. I just saw somewhere that the cheapest way to get it in HD costs 71.50 pounds per month. And that only gets you 75% of the games. BT sports has the other 25%, and they charge another 22 pounds/month. Pound has taken a beating, down to $1.23, but a few years ago it was ~$1.75.

Not sure about the other major leagues, but the business model for UK soccer is just way different.

I mean, that was a pretty obvious move that they were taking the same product but jamming in a lot more commercials.

In comment 13332268 NYG27 said:
[quote] I don't watch a lot of college games anymore because of how long it takes. I tuned in right before kickoff of the National Championship game and when the announcer mentioned "This should be exciting and we'll find out who the champion will be in about 4-5 hours"....... I just turned the channel right then. [/quot]anddddd you missed an all time classic football game...

would be great. Doing that and I think most of us could live with the rest of the games length

In comment 13332327 BigBlueinChicago said:

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In comment 13332320 That’s Gold, Jerry said: Quote: is huge...gets big TV money. But their games, generally speaking, are shown with very few commercials. So how can they get away with it (and their players are paid huge money) and not the NFL? Soccer games with their own structure do not have natural breaks built in. They play with a running clock and then add time if needed after the half is over. When a ball goes out, the clock continues. When a foul is committed, the clock continues. When a corner kick is in play, the clock continues. Can you imagine if soccer stopped play for 2 minutes when any of these events took place? It would look weird. The NFL doesn't play with a running clock, so it allows for those type of breaks with commercials.

Umm this didn't answer the question in the slightest way.

was a very good one, but Deej is the only one so far to slightly address it (apparently people pay per view more or less to watch).

I guess they have fewer players on teams vs NFL too.

But I'm also very interested in understanding how that business model works.. without commercials.. if anyone knows (since we all already knew the games are played continuously without stoppage, and just because its always been that way doesn't explain how certain players over there make so much money now)

In comment 13332407 Deej said:

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I mean, that was a pretty obvious move that they were taking the same product but jamming in a lot more commercials.

My guess is, one, they saved what they deemed to be the key, high profile match-ups for 4:30 and two, oft times games ran over the scheduled start for the 4 pm games robbing fans of the entire start of the game after the 1 pm games ran over at times

In comment 13332352 pjcas18 said:

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the absurdity for me was the week 17 game. I had to miss it live because my youngest had a hockey game in NH and I am the coach. I got home, avoided all media, and had the game on DVR. the entire 3+ hour game took me about 15 minutes to watch. and I watched every play just fast forwarded through the bullshit. How much actual game action, plays, do you think are in a football game? Not much. add in the crap Bisciotti talks about like commercials after a score, a kick-off, go to commercial, and injury on the kick-off when they come back, go to commercial, a challenge, go to commercial. without even considering game action there are approximately 2 hours of commercials for an hour of football. it's absurd.

Yup. I used to watch every game and spend 10/11 hours each Sunday doing it. Fuck that, not anymore. I'm watching the Giants (even then on a 30 minute delay to fast forward) and no way will I sit through other games and suffer the commercial breaks.

They will slowly lose their fanbase (nothing catastrophic but enough to make a change). Kids that are in middle school now have a plethora of other content to consume that is all instantaneous with no breaks. I can see their generation being very disinterested in the NFL of today.

In comment 13332416 MetsAreBack said:

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was a very good one, but Deej is the only one so far to slightly address it (apparently people pay per view more or less to watch). I guess they have fewer players on teams vs NFL too. But I'm also very interested in understanding how that business model works.. without commercials.. if anyone knows (since we all already knew the games are played continuously without stoppage, and just because its always been that way doesn't explain how certain players over there make so much money now)

Deej was mostly right, but also they have uniform advertisements in many soccer leagues.








Emirates spent 350M on sport sponsorships.

In comment 13332416 MetsAreBack said:

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was a very good one, but Deej is the only one so far to slightly address it (apparently people pay per view more or less to watch). I guess they have fewer players on teams vs NFL too. But I'm also very interested in understanding how that business model works.. without commercials.. if anyone knows (since we all already knew the games are played continuously without stoppage, and just because its always been that way doesn't explain how certain players over there make so much money now)

I think a lot of it is the ads/sponsors on jerseys, all over the sidelines, and in post game interviews. No idea how much that effects the bottom line but its a huge difference from how things are in the US (where the NFL just has a deal with Nike or Reebok, etc). Emirates, for example, pays Real Madrid $39 million per year for their sponsorship deal.

Just doing some quick math the NBA signed an 8 year $1 billion deal with Nike in 2015. That's a little over $4 million per team per year. Emirates pays 10x that just for Real Madrid.

I would honestly rather have this in every sport and limit commercials to halftime in football, quarterly in basketball, etc. I'd probably watch a lot more sports again if they did this.

It would suck to see the jerseys we grew up with altered, but they are changing all the time anyway and I'd rather a better game than clinging to the past.

I'm all for cutting down on commercials, but I'd rather not see advertising on jerseys personally. There's something just so low-brow about it.

I've got zero issue with halftime commercials, quarter end commercials, commercials after TDs/FGs and two minute warnings (someone said above that is a bad rule - why?)

Also not all late games start at 4:30 - just one/two national games.

In comment 13332407 Deej said:

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I mean, that was a pretty obvious move that they were taking the same product but jamming in a lot more commercials.

I can't figure out when they start. Some start at 4pm, then they called one of the games "the game of the week" which began at 4:10, then 4:20, then one was at 4:30, saw a kickoff at 4:40.

Who the F knows?

are why the sunday night game does not start until 8:30... and we need team byes ahead of the Thursday night games. (give teams 2 byes per season if there are scheduling difficulties here)

That bothers me more than whether a 1pm game takes 3 hours or 3 hours, 15 minutes. Hell if you're a season ticket holder the game takes up your entire day regardless between commute, getting out of parking lot, tailgate, etc. so why do I care about an extra 15 minutes of game.

In comment 13332442 MetsAreBack said:

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I'm all for cutting down on commercials, but I'd rather not see advertising on jerseys personally. There's something just so low-brow about it. I've got zero issue with halftime commercials, quarter end commercials, commercials after TDs/FGs and two minute warnings (someone said above that is a bad rule - why?) Also not all late games start at 4:30 - just one/two national games.

I get it, but its a proven model that works. No one in Europe cares about the logos. We happen to care too much about our teams logo, IMO. Heck I used to care a lot, but seeing how bad these games are now, I'm up for a complete overhaul.

In comment 13332380 Trainmaster said:

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Unless it's a playoff game (and even sometimes even if it is), I record games on the DVR, go do something for 30 min to 45 min, then start watching the game and fast forward through the commercials. If I get caught up, I pause, go do something and then come back. I HATE commercials. Another option is to bring something with me to do (work on a hobby or project) and when they go to the commercial break I hit the mute button, look away from the TV and unmute when play resumes.

Exactly, that's what I do. I also might watch a half hour show that I recorded earlier in the week. If the Giants are not on ,I have directtv that has two tuners and will pause 1 game and go to the other game and watch that for a few then pause that game and go back to the 1st game. I haven't watched a halftime show in years.

Matchday Revenue: gate receipts
Broadcasting: domestic and international
Commercial: sponsorship and merchandise


Link - ( New Window )

suck, but the last thing you want is for the NFL to become a European hockey league.

I agree 100%.


That is why I always get on my soap box and say that the 1 point extra point kick should be eliminated entirely and force teams to go for 2 pts after every touchdown. You would replace a boring, still mostly automatic play with a very interesting / exciting "elimination play" (score or not).

I'd rather see:

TD

Commercial

2 pt play, immediately followed by kickoff

Commercial

Resume play

with fewer or no commercials have walls much closer to the field of play that are painted with ads. I imagine that helps offset some of the sponsorship revenue. Maybe the NFL could add "virtual" walls around the field and allow networks to superimpose these ads along the sideline.

In comment 13332416 MetsAreBack said:

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was a very good one, but Deej is the only one so far to slightly address it (apparently people pay per view more or less to watch). I guess they have fewer players on teams vs NFL too. But I'm also very interested in understanding how that business model works.. without commercials.. if anyone knows (since we all already knew the games are played continuously without stoppage, and just because its always been that way doesn't explain how certain players over there make so much money now)

There are a few factors, a couple of which have already been touched on in this thread:

1. The games in England are broadcast on subscription networks, and those subscriptions are hefty. It's funny because I think we actually have more access to the EPL here in the US than people do in the UK.

2. There are ads on the uniforms and on the field. While it doesn't quite reach NASCAR levels, games are basically slathered in corporate logos.

3. The structure of soccer leagues in Europe is fundamentally different than the NFL. The soccer clubs aren't franchises. Though there are some protections and revenue sharing, the clubs are more or less left to flourish or struggle on their own financially. The big Euro clubs make an enormous amount of money not only on merchandise, but on participating in cash grab matches and tournaments in Asia and the US. Real Madrid for example makes huge money by frequently doing a tour in China in the preseason.

4. Clubs have a lot of leeway when it comes to pulling off shady deals, hiding money, going into debt, etc. Manchester United is reportedly in a debt of $570 million after a recent spending spree on big name players.

5. This is just my own observation...the soccer infrastructure and its fans are way more sensitive to changes with the game than are NFL fans. We have seen the NFL undergo enormous changes in 20 years, and it seems like the rules are fiddled with every offseason. I don't think that would fly with soccer fans. I remember back in 1994 when we held the World Cup here. TNT was one of the networks that broadcast the games and they actually tried to work commercials into the game. It didn't work and there was a lot of blowback. Imagine watching a 0-0 game and then after two minutes of commercials you come back to a 2-0 score. That shit actually happened.