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THIRD DOWN AND GREED COMMENTARY

In the sports entertainment industry, the National Football League (NFL) is the 800-lb gorilla in the room. It is the most popular TV sport due to large local fan bases, strong history and dominance on Sunday afternoon screens. Family season tickets are passed down from generation to generation, no matter how good or bad the team plays. For owners, it is a modern gold mine. Before the season begins, each team gets $250 million check from national broadcast rights. The 2024 season salary cap is $255 million (with minimum floor about $225 million). Teams also have local broadcast rights, home game ticket sales and concessions or team merch which can be more than $9 million per team.

There have been no reports that any team is having financial issues. The NFL is structured to have individual owners (with the exception of public trust owning Packers). Most are billionaires who have a lot of money to spend for a championship. Championships can go to small market teams like Kansas City because the NFL is also built on parity: any team can win on any given Sunday.

If everything is going great with NFL printing money at will for owners, why is it greedy? Why is it not sensitive to fans' pocketbooks? Apparently, there is never enough money for the 800-LB gorilla.

The first salvo in the greed war was made when the NFL and NBC Sports exclusively sold a single NFL playoff game to a streaming site. peacock. It was reported that peacock paid $110 million to broadcast a single game. It was a whiplash for fans who suddenly had to make a decision whether to subscribe to a streaming platform for just to see one game. At the time, the subscription packages started from $6 to $12 per month. Why did the NFL screw over fans? Because it could. Congress has granted the NFL an antitrust exemption in its broadcast deals with the expectation that you would not use it to screw over fans, several Congressmen fumed after the decision.

Traditionally, NFL games are on CBS, NBC and Fox national networks, ESPN/ABC on cable. A pillar of the NFL popularity rise over the past six decades has been its strategy of making nearly all games available mostly free to fans on national networks. The league has stuck to this approach even as Major League Baseball, the NBA. and other leagues moved more of their games onto cable and satellite broadcasters and subscription streaming services. The strategy has paid off: Ninety-three of the 100 most-watched programs on television last year were NFL games, according to Nielsen. Lately, Amazon's Prime Video, has exclusive rights to certain games, meaning there is no other option to watch on network or cable television, or through a cord-cutting live TV subscription. In fact, the price to watch every NFL game this season for cord cutters was $1.603, not including the cost of internet service. That commitment includes the cost of six streaming services and five username and password combinations. Those digital streaming services include Google'Õs YouTube TV, NFL Sunday Ticket, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, NFL+ and ESPN+ . And the NFL is reaping the rewards. A decade ago, the league made about $3 billion from its TV deals. But, through all of its current broadcast deals with both networks and streaming companies, it makes roughly $11 billion a year.

But the golden road has been getting some pot holes. The NFL was sued in a federal class action suit brought by millions of customers who paid for Sunday Ticket, the subscription service on DirecTV, that showed all out-of-market games on Sundays. The plaintiffs claim that the NFL colluded with CBS and Fox to artificially inflate the price of the service, which cost roughly $300 a season, because the networks viewed Sunday Ticket as competition. The plaintiffs argue that the NFL failed to take into consideration offers to create cheaper services that would have let fans buy games based on teams they wanted to watch. They were seeking damages of $7 billion, which could be tripled under antitrust statutes.

In June, 2024, a federal jury awarded the plaintiffs $4.8 billion in damages against the NFL The verdict would be tripled under anti-trust laws. However, the NFL filed a post-trial motion attacking the verdict. The presiding judge threw out the judgment against the league basically saying the plaintiffs failed to prove their case of anti-competition. The ruling is most likely to be appealed.

The NFL owns the copyright for all its games. As the copyright owner, it has the legal right to exploit its product/works as it sees fit which is why it is distributing its games in a growing variety of channels and platforms. Displaced team fans who have moved out of their home market are upset they cannot see every game of their team without shelling out more money. But money moves the NFL monopoly on pro football (though some will now consider college football is now a pro league with NIL money, free agency transfer portal and super conference billion dollar TV rights deals). For the unhappy fan, there are many dark web, illegal pirate sites distributing games.

The growth of greed will continue unabated because the new casual fan is being drawn into the NFL by fantasy sports games and legal sports gambling. Gambling websites have become the biggest TV and radio advertisers, tying their brands with the NFL shield which ironically, was very anti-gambling (because the association would conflict with the integrity of the game.) But money talks, so the NFL has partnered with gaming sites and casinos in marketing and promotion. This growth engine may not be the healthiest form, but the NFL owners do not care that much for the health of their players, so why should they care one bit about the health of their fans?

The modern NFL has been compared to ancient Rome as America's version of the Coliseum. The games have punishing physical contact, hard hits, and roaring crowds out for blood and victory. It is the weekly centerpiece for approximately 18 million Americans. That will not change until there is another new, compelling and gambling game to take its place.

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THE END OF THE TOUR TELEVISION

In 2002, Jeremy Clarkson and producer Andy Wilman revived the long running BBC motor show, Top Gear, into an entertainment juggernaut. It continued automobile reviews but added special features such as celebrities doing track laps in a reasonably priced (cheap) car, fast laps with sports cars, challenges and cinematic specials. Joined by broadcaster-car enthusiast Richard Hammond and automobile journalist James May, the three turned into a globe trotting circus trio of car nuts. At one time, it was the most seen BBC program in worldwide viewership. The three became British celebrities, not without controversies. In March 2015, Clarkson was terminated after striking a production member over not having a hot meal after a long day's shoot. The fallout was short lived as the trio was picked up by Amazon Prime to do several seasons of The Grand Tour that continued its old format for the first three season but then focused in the last three seasons on their popular specials: hard, long challenges across harsh terrain or conditions with not the best vehicles for the job. It was the interplay, humor and juvenile hijinx that continued their popularity.

In September, 2024, the final episode of The Grand Tour was released. It was one more for the road, trip through Africa. It was a bittersweet ending, but the presenters knew it was time to call it day. During the final promotion, their last collaboration was a YouTube segment on rating British food and drink against international fare.

It was not a blazing give and take as the years had taken its toll on them physically and mentally. By the time the last episode was filmed, Clarkson had moved on to do a British TV program of him being a farmer with no experience or knowledge (see, Green Acres). That program was successful and funny as he blundered his way to lose money. But he doubled down by opening a farm produce shop and then a restaurant pub. May had also moved to other interests including part ownership in a pub and a line of his own gin. He also was doing travel shows and an Internet channel tinkering about with things or food. Hammond opened his own car repair/restoration shop which was the basis for much of the Grant Tour's Internet channel, DRIVETRIBE.

No one is going to have tag days for them. They were well paid for their series. But someone will probably want to organize a tag day for the subject near and dear to their careers: the automotive industry.

The auto industry is in decline. The pandemic disrupted the supply chain which caused massive manufacturing issues as computer components are now the life blood for the basic combustion engine. Government pressures and regulations forcing electric vehicles (EV) o the wary public also put manufacturers wasting billions of dollars in research and development costs for vehicles no one wanted to buy. This also led to car makers cutting back their old models to just a few sedans. The money makers continue to be trucks and SUVs to the chagrin of government green regulators.

Today, car dealer lots are empty of 2024 models because production is so iffy customers have now had to order their cars for delivery that can take months to deliver. And the current quality of cars is bad. Many current models have had massive recalls and bad reviews about quality, comfort and performance. It s the beginning of the dark ages for motoring. Some think the hybrid vehicle could save the industry by compromising with the gas and EV camps. But the real problem is that in industrial countries, young people are not getting driver's licenses. They have no interest in driving or owning a car. They have been chauffeured by their parents their entire lives. Now, uber is easier than learning how to operate a modern car.

The the fact that the average vehicle is pushing $50,000 US. People are holding their cars for longer than ever, an average of almost 11 years. Older cars are easier to service than the computerized current product lines. And the fact that EV mechanics are few and far between because of the technology is complex. When an EV's battery pack fails, the car is basically totaled since new batteries usually cost more than the original cost of the vehicle.

As loyal viewers raise one final toast to Clarkson, Hammond and May, they may be also raising a final toast to their automotive heritage.

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QUICK BYTES CYBERCULTURE

IN YOUR SHORTS. YouTube announced that it will provide AI programs for its Shorts creators. YT Shorts is the mild competitor to TikTok. Normally, a short is created by editing down the creator's normal content into a short bit. But does anyone just make Shorts? On YouTube? Just by slapping AI on to anything to generate interest or excitement is waning very fast. Is AI going to be your unpaid video editor? Or is AI set to create “new” content under your brand? Either way. The current success of AI is not very good. But the platform said its YouTube Studio app that will allow creators to use AI to generate titles, thumbnails and video ideas and creators can use it to insert clips in their videos or produce entirely AI-generated videos. However, some creators expressed concerns that their videos on YouTube have used to train the AI models that built the app.

THAT WAS QUICK. Engadget reports movie studio Lionsgate has struck a deal with AI startup Runway. The Wall Street Journal said the arrangement will allow Runway access to Lionsgate's content library in exchange for a fresh, custom AI model that the studio can use in production and editing. During the long Writers Guild of America (WGA) and SAG-AFTRA strikes, one of the main sticking points was limitations on the use of AI that would take actor and writers jobs. They did get some stipulations but it not stopping AI from coming to Hollywood anyway. Lionsgate Studios said it feared falling behind competitors without a step like this. It also claimed that some of its filmmakers are already excited about its potential applications to their pre-production and post-production process. It is clear that such an arrangement will affect many film production jobs.

WORM IN THE APPLE. Tech fans know of cheat codes. They are ways to manipulate the game for their benefit. It is exploitation of a flaw in the program. But many new iOS 18 users complain Apple's new operating system is the biggest upgrade in history for making it easier for philandering partners to cheat. The two security features are hiding the home screen and concealing apps which would allow cheaters to hide their digital messages, photos and contacts from their (in)significant other.

BLACKPINK SEES RED. According to a study published by Music Magpie in the UK, BLACKPINK is the most streamed artist in terms of AI covers and is losing the most money due to AI-generated music. Additionally, K-pop artists in general are the most streamed in terms of AI covers, with BLACKPINK leading by a huge margin with 17.3 million views, followed by BTS's Jimin, BLACKPINK's Jennie, and Stray Kids. Analysis from Music Magpie also revealed that BLACKPINK is estimated to lose approx 376,184 English pounds (approx $500,000 USD) due to AI music.

WASHED UP. Illinois has recently passed a law that bans hotels from giving guests personal size toiletries. Those little branded travel size bathroom shampoo, conditioners, etc. It is really micromanaging a business under the guise of environmentalism. Now, hotels will have large pump bottles of the products. Guests will no longer have opportunity to put an unused travel size item in their luggage.

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FOUND BUT NOT LOST ON THE INTERNET

New York City requires elevators to have a YES and NO buttons. The reason is safety. If a disabled person has an emergency, the dispatcher can ask yes or no questions to get critical information. Having been in hundreds to thousands of elevators, we have never seen this set-up before but it makes sense.

Source: neatorama

Another strange backpack, this one for Japan, which is a squid bag. Ewww. Is it fashion or an attempt to get attention? Oh, right all fashion is a desperate cry for attention.

Source: neatorama

In the book aisle labeled WHO KNEW PEOPLE WANTED THIS?, Japan's greatest symbolic nuclear lizard has his first cook book. No, it is not a book on how to roast human beings or stomping buildings into taco chips. It appears that it is a normal recipe book but with Godzilla puns. Disappointing. Why not give dangerous cooking tips?

Source: neatorama

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THE WHETHER REPORT

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STATUS

Question: Whether conflict in Gaza and Lebanon escalate into a regional conflict?

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* Possible

* Probable

* Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

* Doubtful

* Vapor Dream

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