What is the NFL saturation point?

[Guiness]

How many time slots can the NFL consume and continue to attract viewers?

So now there's a Sunday morning game, the Dolphins/Jets started at what, 6:30? 1pm game, 4pm game, Sunday evening. One or two on Monday night. Thursday.

That's up to 7 slots @3h each for 21h/week. When is it enough, or even too much?

[red]

we hit it a couple years ago when we went to thursday games iMO

if the packers weren't on right now, i would not be watching football after watching the first 2 games today

and tomorrow night i'm leaning towards watching the big bang theory, and don't care at all about the game tomorrow night

[Upnorth]

Not until the advertising dollars say so.

[esoxx]

I haven't left the house today. Love it.

[Rutnstrut]

I haven't left the house today. Love it.

Same here.

[George Cumby]

we hit it a couple years ago when we went to thursday games iMO

if the packers weren't on right now, i would not be watching football after watching the first 2 games today

and tomorrow night i'm leaning towards watching the big bang theory, and don't care at all about the game tomorrow night

Yup.

Thursday night games are stupid and hurt players.

[esoxx]

Love me some Thursday nights.

[gbgary]

we hit it a couple years ago when we went to thursday games iMO

this. needs to go along with the london experiments.

[SMBASS]

Not a fan of the Thursday games or the London experiment. The majority of Thurs. night games have been complete crap because I just don't think it gives teams enough time to recover physically or plan properly for the next game. My preference would be to do away with both.

[Patler]

NFL games were special when they were limited to Sundays. NFC was CBS, AFC was NBC. You always knew where to find a game. The late games were limited to west coast teams playing at 1:00 their time. For a while, CBS and NBC alternated having a national broadcast of a second game at 3:00. Saw a lot of the Raiders, 49ers and Rams in those days. Three games on Sunday, but you had to switch back and forth between the two early games played at the same time, That was a lot of work in the days before remotes, and, yes, mechanical tuners could wear out!

The radical move to add Monday night games on ABC was a huge deal. Most of you might not appreciate what a big deal that was. People talked about the games all day Monday and all day Tuesday. Monday night football parties were huge, they felt almost like playoff games. Not many people I knew had more than one TV, so sometimes non-fans (usually wives/girlfriends) would get together at one house while other met at another to watch the game. For a while, NBC and CBS ran Monday night movies opposite ABC's Monday night football.

Every game was still a special event.

Now, I look at the jumbled up mess, with four time slots on Sundays, one or two on Mondays, plus Thursday. (Do they still play any Saturday games? They did for a while.) Never knowing when your team plays, with the possible last minute time shift, and bye weeks thrown in, it has gotten to be too much work to foloow teams and scores. Games aren't "special" at all anymore.

[Upnorth]

Special or not, the current level of exposure Provides Ever increasing advertising dollars. Until that trend reverses the NFL will continue to find additional time slots to exploit

[Patler]

Special or not, the current level of exposure Provides Ever increasing advertising dollars. Until that trend reverses the NFL will continue to find additional time slots to exploit

Sure, and fantasy football was a God-send to the NFL. Even formerly lukewarm NFL fans have become rabid over following "their" players. More people are following more games, and more viewers=more $.

[Upnorth]

I have a friend who only watches NFL red zone and follows 'his team' online. I started a convo about what chip had done to their oline. He had no clue because they don't get fantasy points.

[Cheesehead Craig]

NFL games were special when they were limited to Sundays. NFC was CBS, AFC was NBC. You always knew where to find a game. The late games were limited to west coast teams playing at 1:00 their time. For a while, CBS and NBC alternated having a national broadcast of a second game at 3:00. Saw a lot of the Raiders, 49ers and Rams in those days. Three games on Sunday, but you had to switch back and forth between the two early games played at the same time, That was a lot of work in the days before remotes, and, yes, mechanical tuners could wear out!

The radical move to add Monday night games on ABC was a huge deal. Most of you might not appreciate what a big deal that was. People talked about the games all day Monday and all day Tuesday. Monday night football parties were huge, they felt almost like playoff games. Not many people I knew had more than one TV, so sometimes non-fans (usually wives/girlfriends) would get together at one house while other met at another to watch the game. For a while, NBC and CBS ran Monday night movies opposite ABC's Monday night football.

Every game was still a special event.

Now, I look at the jumbled up mess, with four time slots on Sundays, one or two on Mondays, plus Thursday. (Do they still play any Saturday games? They did for a while.) Never knowing when your team plays, with the possible last minute time shift, and bye weeks thrown in, it has gotten to be too much work to foloow teams and scores. Games aren't "special" at all anymore.

I remember those days of having to flip channels and yes, MNF was definitely a treat (Chargers/Dolphins anyone?).

The NFL won't do Saturday games until the playoffs, because Saturday belongs to college football and they are done by that time.

[mraynrand]

NFL games were special when they were limited to Sundays. NFC was CBS, AFC was NBC. You always knew where to find a game. The late games were limited to west coast teams playing at 1:00 their time. For a while, CBS and NBC alternated having a national broadcast of a second game at 3:00. Saw a lot of the Raiders, 49ers and Rams in those days. Three games on Sunday, but you had to switch back and forth between the two early games played at the same time, That was a lot of work in the days before remotes, and, yes, mechanical tuners could wear out!

The radical move to add Monday night games on ABC was a huge deal. Most of you might not appreciate what a big deal that was. People talked about the games all day Monday and all day Tuesday. Monday night football parties were huge, they felt almost like playoff games. Not many people I knew had more than one TV, so sometimes non-fans (usually wives/girlfriends) would get together at one house while other met at another to watch the game. For a while, NBC and CBS ran Monday night movies opposite ABC's Monday night football.

Every game was still a special event.

Now, I look at the jumbled up mess, with four time slots on Sundays, one or two on Mondays, plus Thursday. (Do they still play any Saturday games? They did for a while.) Never knowing when your team plays, with the possible last minute time shift, and bye weeks thrown in, it has gotten to be too much work to foloow teams and scores. Games aren't "special" at all anymore.

Unbelievable. The NFL was total crap in the 70's, 80's, and 90's for seeing a breadth of teams and players. If you were out of market, good luck getting to see some of the great players playing for other teams. I saw my first Packer game in Iowa in '73 and only saw a handful for the next 6 years until moving back to WI (some would argue this is a blessing). In the meantime I got steady dose of Dallas, Pittsburgh Oakland and Miami - and the Vikings losing in Superbowls. Can't even remember other teams. Deacon Jones? Only saw him on 'The Odd Couple.' Hardly ever saw Fouts, but at least had a chance with the late games.

Monday Night Football was so popular because it was the only game in town - literally - no other sports on the tube and three other channels. It's either that or "Falcon Crest," reruns of "Hogans Heroes," or "bowling for dollars," "Night Rider" and "Murder, She Wrote."

The extra days of football are great, but I'd gladly give up Thurs if it helped players.

With NFL Sunday Ticket, and streaming. you can get as much as you like. That's saturation.

But what the hell, if you're getting too much, flick the power switch and do something else.

Gotta love Capitalism and all the options.

Who wants fewer options, fewer choices?

[mraynrand]

Sure, and fantasy football was a God-send to the NFL. Even formerly lukewarm NFL fans have become rabid over following "their" players. More people are following more games, and more viewers=more $.

FF is probably my least favorite aspect of football. But people seem to like it, so whatever. Still, "Gosh I hope Randy Moss scores 5 TDs agains the Packers because he's on my fantasy team - but I hope the Packers still win!!" <--- these are the people who I want to punch in the face.

[mission]

FF is probably my least favorite aspect of football. But people seem to like it, so whatever. Still, "Gosh I hope Randy Moss scores 5 TDs agains the Packers because he's on my fantasy team - but I hope the Packers still win!!" <--- these are the people who I want to punch in the face.

I do hate that part of FF, but I care so little about the other teams in the league that it at least keeps me interested in the other games enough to watch them.
Otherwise I'm watching some crap with my wife (I have a few other days a week to do that).

[Patler]

FF is probably my least favorite aspect of football. But people seem to like it, so whatever. Still, "Gosh I hope Randy Moss scores 5 TDs agains the Packers because he's on my fantasy team - but I hope the Packers still win!!" <--- these are the people who I want to punch in the face.

I couldn't agree more, for the same reasons. Even my own sons are that way. Makes me wonder where I went wrong......

[Patler]

Unbelievable. The NFL was total crap in the 70's, 80's, and 90's for seeing a breadth of teams and players. If you were out of market, good luck getting to see some of the great players playing for other teams. I saw my first Packer game in Iowa in '73 and only saw a handful for the next 6 years until moving back to WI (some would argue this is a blessing). In the meantime I got steady dose of Dallas, Pittsburgh Oakland and Miami - and the Vikings losing in Superbowls. Can't even remember other teams. Deacon Jones? Only saw him on 'The Odd Couple.' Hardly ever saw Fouts, but at least had a chance with the late games.

Monday Night Football was so popular because it was the only game in town - literally - no other sports on the tube and three other channels. It's either that or "Falcon Crest," reruns of "Hogans Heroes," or "bowling for dollars," "Night Rider" and "Murder, She Wrote."

The extra days of football are great, but I'd gladly give up Thurs if it helped players.

With NFL Sunday Ticket, and streaming. you can get as much as you like. That's saturation.

But what the hell, if you're getting too much, flick the power switch and do something else.

Gotta love Capitalism and all the options.

Who wants fewer options, fewer choices?

It was much the same for me, even though I lived in WI in the '60s and 70's. Cable was just in its infancy, and living in the far north we received only 3 over the air TV stations, all out of Duluth. The only Packer games I saw were against the Vikings and the Thanksgiving game against the Lions. Once in a great while, if the Vikings were playing out west, the early game would be the Packers, but for some reason they often seemed to carry the Bears instead. If the Packers were out west, it would depend on whether their game was chosen for the national broadcast.

Don't get me wrong, I agree having options is nice, and being able to see (record and replay, which is now my preference) every Packer game is great. But the question presented was when or if the NFL could hit a saturation point. I think maybe it has, because nothing about being able to watch a game is special anymore. But how can they not have reached a saturation point when, if you want, you can watch each and every game whenever you want. Even without a subscription, just basic cable service, I had 5 different games available to me yesterday. With Monday and Thursday, I can see half of all games played.

Either they have reached a saturation point, or there is no such thing for the NFL. I think it is the former, because wasn't there a big deal a year or two ago about the SB having to reduce ad fees?

[red]

you know what happens when you're team isn't on TV?

you go to the game

when i was little we lived in the south, Packers were never on, the only way we knew if they were doing well was to watch sports center or read the paper. then the packers come down to play the cowboys, so we went. AWESOME memories

now i go to a game and its like, "oh i can't wait to get home and see the replay of the game or the highlights". not special anymore