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TV arrangements for wild card round after 2022 (and other changes)


pf9

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The NFL gave the rights to the two extra wild card games to CBS and NBC up through 2022.

This meant that CBS is televising an NFC playoff game for the first time in 27 seasons - Chicago at New Orleans.

When the new contracts begin in 2023, I expect each of these networks to have the following:

CBS:
Sunday afternoon coverage, mainly road games of AFC teams
Additional Sunday afternoon games on CBS distributed to markets through a reverse mirror on Paramount Movie Network (must have at least 2 games in a slot for reverse mirror, and 3 games in a slot for Sunday Ticket to be needed)
Thanksgiving games at Detroit in even years, Dallas in odd years
4 AFC playoff games (2 wild card, 1 divisional, CCG) - could go up to 5 AFC games when playoffs potentially expand to 16 teams (the day CBS has the 1:05 PM slot in the wild card round would see two games distributed regionally, with Paramount Movie Network carrying the reverse mirror of both games; games must be held in Eastern or Central Time Zones)

Fox:
Sunday afternoon coverage, mainly road games of NFC teams
Additional Sunday afternoon games on Fox distributed to markets through a reverse mirror on Fox Sports 1 (must have at least 2 games in a slot for reverse mirror, and 3 games in a slot for Sunday Ticket to be needed)
Thanksgiving games at Detroit in odd years, Dallas in even years
4 NFC playoff games (2 wild card, 1 divisional, CCG) - could go up to 5 NFC games when playoffs potentially expand to 16 teams (the day Fox has the 1:05 PM slot in the wild card round would see two games distributed regionally, with Fox Sports 1 carrying the reverse mirror of both games; games must be held in Eastern or Central Time Zones)
Thursday night games on first 7 non-kickoff/Thanksgiving Thursdays and a Saturday afternoon doubleheader in December after end of college football season (all simulcast on NFL Network and Amazon Prime)

NBC:
Sunday night game all 18 weeks (unless holiday causes game to be moved to another day)
Thursday night games in week 1 (kickoff) and Thanksgiving week
1 Wild Card Game and 1 Divisional Playoff game (would alternate having AFC or NFC games with ABC)

ABC:
Exclusive rights to International Series games played in Europe or across the Pacific - games in Europe take place on Sunday morning US time, games across the Pacific late Friday night/early Saturday morning US time (early afternoon locally) with re-air on Sunday Morning at 9:30 AM local time - this could begin as early as 2021 when the 17-game schedule debuts, giving each team one neutral-site game
Thursday night games on last 8 non-kickoff/Thanksgiving Thursdays (excluding week 18), and a Saturday night game on the same day as Fox's afternoon DH (all simulcast on NFL Network and Amazon Prime)
1 Wild Card Game and 1 Divisional Playoff Game (would alternate having AFC or NFC games with NBC), as well as Pro Bowl - all now exclusively on ABC

Super Bowl rotation starting in 2023 season:
2023-24: Fox
2024-25: CBS (gives them all their Super Bowls in same calendar years they broadcast the Final Four, but only half of such years)
2025-26: NBC (gives them all their Super Bowls in same calendar years they have the Winter Olympics)
2026-27: ABC
And so on and so forth

ESPN:
Monday night games, 2 in week 1, 1 in all other weeks up through 17
Includes exclusive rights to International Series games in Latin America

Holiday considerations:
If Sunday or Monday night is Christmas Eve, the NFL game normally played on that night gets moved to Saturday night.
If Thursday night is Christmas Eve, the TNF game gets moved to Friday night on Christmas (which would give ABC a compelling lead out from its NBA games that day).
Years in which Christmas Eve is on Sunday or Monday night also have New Year's Eve on a Sunday or Monday night, in which case the SNF or MNF game is also moved to Saturday night, deferring to New Year's celebrations, and in SNF's case, special programming on NBC. For years with Sunday, December 24 and 31, weeks 9 and 10 can have the SNF game flexed out with no restrictions.
If New Year's Eve is a Thursday night, there would be no TNF game, deferring to New Year's Rockin' Eve, and instead one of the following things happens:
*If a Thursday New Year's Eve falls in a season where the Rose and Sugar Bowls are hosting the CFP semifinals, ABC/NFLN/Prime instead airs a game on Saturday night, December 26.
*If a Thursday New Year's Eve falls in a season where the Rose and Sugar Bowls are not hosting the CFP semifinals, ABC will have the Thursday night game instead of Fox on October 29, and Fox/NFLN/Prime will air a game on late Christmas afternoon (which would be a Friday), leading in to WWE Smackdown. I propose the move of the CFP/NY6 to ABC starting 2026.

Other notes:
Having all TNF package games simulcast on an over-the-air network (along with Prime) would require new carriage contracts for NFL Network - which could potentially stipulate that the Fox/ABC, NFLN, and Prime Video broadcasts each have separate announcing crews and halftime shows, each in a contrasting style.
Cross-flexing of CBS and Fox games between the networks would continue.
The "no opposing games" rule would be eliminated entirely, and in conjunction with the reverse mirror, would allow people to watch a more compelling game if their local team is performing poorly.
For reverse mirrors on single-header networks, the cable network would simulcast another service in the time which it is not airing an NFL game in the local market - Paramount Movie Network would simulcast CBS Sports HQ, and Fox Sports 1 would simulcast Fox Sports 2. Both PMN and FS1 (regardless of which network between CBS or Fox is the single-header) would designate the 1-8 PM hours (ET) as a buffer zone for NFL coverage and the simulcasts of the other service. At 8 PM, both networks would be free to air other programming.
If a late DH slot features a single game, the buffer period on PMN and FS1 ends at 5 PM, otherwise it goes to 8 PM.

Edited by pf9
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/5/2021 at 6:14 PM, pf9 said:

The NFL gave the rights to the two extra wild card games to CBS and NBC up through 2022.

This meant that CBS is televising an NFC playoff game for the first time in 27 seasons - Chicago at New Orleans.
 

John Madden and Pat Summerall doing NFC playoff games on CBS was sweet music. 

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Alternate telecast info:

CBS:
By the end of the decade, I'm expecting WarnerMedia to buy Univision Communications. At that point, WarnerMedia would join forces with CBS Sports to produce Spanish-language broadcasts of NFL games airing on CBS for Univision, expanding the CBS/WarnerMedia partnership beyond March Madness and having WarnerMedia produce NFL coverage in some form for the first time since TNT lost NFL rights after the 1997 season. Each Univision affiliate would show locally the Spanish-language telecast of the game being shown on the CBS affiliate in English. The CBS game being distributed locally to Paramount Movie Network would air in Spanish on TUDN in that market.

All national games - 4:25 PM games not part of regional coverage (as KC-NO was in 2020), Thanksgiving games, and non-reverse mirror slot playoff games - would have alternate telecasts produced (in conjunction with CBS Sports) for a youth audience by - and aired on - Nickelodeon. If such a game features the Detroit Lions (which will include the Thanksgiving games in even years), one of the color commentators would be Jessica DiCicco, in character as Lynn Loud from the Nicktoon The Loud House, which is set in a fictional Detroit suburb

Fox:
Fox Deportes would simulcast all Fox NFL games airing in a local market in Spanish, meaning the games being shown in English on the local Fox affiliate (whether it is Sunday regional coverage or the Fox portion of the TNF package) will be seen in that market on Fox Deportes in Spanish. In order to see a game airing in a particular market on FS1 in Spanish, SAP will be required.

NBC:
All NBC games would be simulcast in Spanish on Telemundo.

ABC/ESPN:
All games airing on ABC and ESPN would be simulcast in Spanish on ESPN Deportes. Inspired by the CBS/Nickelodeon partnership, all ABC and ESPN games would also have alternate telecasts aimed at a youth audience on Disney XD.

Edited by pf9
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CBntxpv.png

Proposed television arrangements for the playoffs under my proposals.

NBC would not be forced to televise any playoff games on a Saturday night, in order to protect Saturday Night Live, in case of new episodes. In the rare event NBC airs SNF package games on December 23 and 30 when they fall on Saturday nights, typically during these weeks SNL is not planning any new episodes.

Reverse mirror would be applicable upon future expansion of playoffs to 16 teams (CBS games on Paramount Movie Network, Fox games on Fox Sports 1).

Even and odd correspond to the calendar years in which the regular season began, not the calendar years the playoffs take place in.

Nickelodeon "simulcasts" of CBS playoff games would only take place outside reverse mirror slots, as only in those instances are all CBS affiliates carrying the same game.

Edited by pf9
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  • 2 weeks later...

So, ABC's portion of the Thursday night package should have games start at 9 PM Eastern, with a highly anticipated entertainment program as a lead in, emulating the successful schedule formula for the network's MNF games between 1970 and 2005.

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1 hour ago, pf9 said:

So, ABC's portion of the Thursday night package should have games start at 9 PM Eastern, with a highly anticipated entertainment program as a lead in, emulating the successful schedule formula for the network's MNF games between 1970 and 2005.

Still remember those 9pm games on ABC and pleading to stay up late on a school night.

Memories.

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A program I had in mind to lead into ABC's Thursday night games was a TV series in the Terminator franchise, a complete reboot after the failure of Dark Fate (there would also be a proposed theatrical reboot, but it would take place in a separate universe from the TV series).

The series would be co-produced by Skydance, ABC Signature, and Paramount - the same companies that co-produced Dark Fate (with ABC Signature taking the place of sister company 20th Century Studios, formerly 20th Century Fox). It would also reflect the fact that Paramount often produced lead-ins to MNF, most notably MacGyver.

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Given the increasing amount of non-sports programming airing at the same time from coast to coast, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to air the entertainment program leading to ABC's TNF games at the same time across all time zones in the lower 48: 8 ET/7 CT/6 MT/5 PT; a stark contrast to the practice of airing MNF's lead-ins in differing hours after the game ended in the Western US. It would still air on a time delay in Alaska and Hawaii (9 or 10 PM local time depending on what time it is in either state when the game ends).

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