Considering the NFL might be going through a labor stoppage that could knock out a chunk of the football season, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss the state of the NFL on the Radio. Currently, games are carrier Nationally through CBS Radio & Westwood One and distributed to their affiliates. The regional games, instead of being broadcast by a Broadcast network and simulcast to both cities involved in the game, each team has their own set of announcers who call each game and are paid by the team.
Now, in a work stoppage, it could potentially open the way for the current TV/Radio deals to become voided and get force a restructuring or possible change in the landscape of the whole thing. This could be a potentially huge switch for the NFL, as ESPN's somewhat-recent foray into the radio business has gotten them up to par with WWO and can compete for the most lucrative contract in radio. If ESPN were to win, it would be a huge blow to the WWO stations that have carried the NFL since they acquired the package back in the 90s. It also could potentially backfire on ESPN, as some of their stations in big markets such as New York & Miami for example, have weak signals that might not be able to reach faraway stations while the WWO stations could have done with ease, thus essentially blacking out some listeners.
In the end of the day, the money from ESPN might be too good to pass up, but by doing so the NFL could be shooting itself in the foot. We shall see.
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