Roger Goodell is Too Much of a Coward to Testify as Congress Hammers the NFL for Claiming 87% of Games are Available for Free

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Some people might be tempted to argue that in a time of war, rising prices, a lack of affordable houses, an uncertain future with AI, an opioid crisis, and America essentially tearing itself apart along socio-economic lines, that our elected officials would have more important things to deal with than football games on television. 

I beg to differ. With all these as background, we need football on TV more than ever. This is an issue that affects all of us. From those brave souls on board the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea to every American worker struggling to get by. And the more time Congress spends addressing this, the less time they'll be able to spend screwing up the country. 

And what is the issue exactly? This:

Pro Football Talk -  The NFL is very good at coming up with useful statistics — and then repeatedly hammering them. As to one of those stats, the House Judiciary Committee is hammering back.

Earlier this year, the league began trumpeting the idea that “87 percent” of all games are available on free TV. The interim staff report issued by the Committee in advance of Wednesday’s hearing on the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 disputes that number.

“The NFL explains that 100 percent of its ‘local market games’ (i.e., when a fan lives in the same area as the team) are available free, over-the-air on broadcast television and 87 percent of games have ‘primary distribution’ on broadcast television,” the report asserts at pages 3 and 4. “The NFL’s own analysis, however, shows that the average NFL game appears in only 39 percent of U.S. households. In addition, of the NFL’s 256 regular season games in 2016, 113 games were broadcast in less than 20 percent of U.S. households. 

“The NFL’s claim that 87 percent of games have ‘primary distribution’ on broadcast television actually means that 87 percent of games are on a broadcast station somewhere in the country. In fact, significantly less than half of the games are actually available to a consumer on broadcast television, depending on the week and geographic area.”

Yes, 87 percent of games are available on broadcast TV. No, fans don’t have the ability to watch 87 percent of games on broadcast TV.

Even if you want to say this doesn't matter because the NFL is a for-profit business and can do whatever it wants. Free enterprise. Laissez faire capitalism. Adam Smith, and all that. 

Which I'd ordinarily agree with. But this is no private enterprise. The league is exempt from a lot of regulations it would normally have to deal with, on the promise that games will be available to everyone, as a public good. Besides, the broadcast airwaves are owned by the federal government. And by extension, those of us who can't afford to hide our money, so we're stuck paying the government's bills. 

And what shouldn't be lost here is the NFL is doing the impossible. Actually performing a great service for its country. This is actually the one issue a fractured, broken, divided government reach hands across the aisle and work together. Because as wide as that political chasm is, the things both parties can agree on are:

1) The NFL is even more corrupt than they are. 

2) Roger Goodell is too much of a puss to face them, look them in the eye, and plead his case like a man:

… protections meant to keep sports free and accessible to fans.

Source -  The House Judiciary Committee hearing on whether major sports leagues, the NFL in particular, benefit consumers or are violating the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 by funneling games behind increasingly expensive paywalls, was a one-sided debate.

During the two-hour hearing, Republicans and Democrats on the committee did something rarely seen in Washington, D.C. these days: They mostly agreed.

Then another rare sight, as if seeing one unicorn wasn't enough … the witnesses invited to testify all came at the issue pretty much on the same side and they were generally not interrupted by committee members eager to reclaim their time.

It was like watching an All-Pro team bulldoze a roster of undrafted free agents who decided not to step on the field.

And the NFL was the latter in this scenario because Commissioner Roger Goodell was invited to testify but declined. And the league didn't have anyone advocating on its behalf.

When Fox News Digital reached out to the NFL after the hearing to request its side of the matter, there was no response. The NFL went dark on all matters relative to this important hearing. …

So, the NFL got routed on this afternoon on Capitol Hill.

Frigging Goodell. Such a Beta. Such a cuck. Ginger Satan is perfectly willing to accept the $2,662,500 that gets deposited in his account on the 1st and 15th of every month ($63.9 million a year) so long as all he has to do for it is awkwardly try to imitate human behavior as he shoulder bumps the 32 first round picks and gives one very safe, highly controlled press conference every Super Bowl week. But when it comes to rolling up his sleeves and getting his hands dirty, to do some actual work and defend the league he supposedly runs with some cogent, logical arguments, he turns tail and hides under his desk on Park Avenue. Hell, he can't even be bothered to answer an email. Or to let some flack in his Legal Department handle it. 

None of which is meant to sound like I trust the US Congress. It's merely to say that if the NFL had a single argument to make as to why they're still entitled to antitrust exemptions when they're more and more running to paid streaming services, they'd make them. Under Der Kommissar, they're hoping instead no one notices and we all move onto the next thing. While watching pro football, which is supposed to be free to every American, just gets more and more expensive by the year, with no end in sight.