The National Football League stepped in it badly when they went all politics all the time. They tried to stem the damage, but they were too late.
And too confused, they never had a uniformed message. That debacle combined with the ever longer commercial breaks and no one is surprised to hear the NFL is announcing massive cuts to their flagship network,
From The New York Post: The NFL Network is being forced to cut $20 million out of its projected budget and, in the process, already has eliminated at least five shows, including one that featured Deion Sanders, The Post has learned.
The less-than-hoped-for budget has made negotiations with on-air personnel tense, and there is a feeling some will either not be retained or be forced to take pay cuts, according to sources.
The moves have been made as part of the NFL’s overall budget, which includes what is expected to be an amped-up celebration of the NFL’s 100th season this year. NFL Network has apparently absorbed part of the project into its budget.
NFL Network is definitively cutting five programs. Sanders’ “21 & Prime,” “Power Rankings,” “Pick ‘em,” “Playbook” and “Mic’d Up” are off the air. The future of the weekend edition of “Good Morning Football” is in question.
In response, the NFL Network said it was actually upping its investment, but it was shifting where the spending is taking place with the NFL 100 celebration.
“As part of an increased investment in programming and content for 2019, NFL Network will unveil several shows geared towards a celebration of the NFL’s 100th season,” an NFL network spokesman, Alex Riethmiller, said in a statement to The Post. “These shows will replace a handful of existing shows from our 2018 schedule.”
Riethmiller did not delve into the exact budget costs in his statement or the discrepancy with sources, who associated the cuts of the shows and the expected tense on-air personnel negotiations with the $20 million difference.
During the Super Bowl, the NFL kicked off its 100th season by spending huge sums — likely well into seven figures, according to those with knowledge of the production — to produce its well-received NFL dinner party commercial.
