00:00Hey, I talked to you a little bit about the streaming.
00:02How big do you think streaming is going to be moving forward in sports broadcasting?
00:08How big do you think this thing is going to continue to grow?
00:12Let me tell you a quick story about why it happened.
00:16And it all has to do with Neil Austrian, who was president of the NFL, and the great Paul Tagliabue,
00:26the commissioner.
00:27Paul rang me in, I think, 1998, and he said, you've got to come to New York.
00:32And I said, Paul, for me to come to New York, it's like three days out of my week.
00:36I've got to fly, da-da-da.
00:37He said, it's important.
00:39So what they'd done back in 97, 98, the National Football League had done their first survey.
00:44Now, don't forget, Neil Austrian was a great advertising man, and the first thing he did was wanted to know
00:48what the market is.
00:50So he did the first survey, and Paul said, of all the things we found out,
00:53the single most important fact was that only 2% of our audience have ever been to a football game.
01:00And I said, what?
01:02And he said, mathematically, figure it out.
01:0530 teams, eight home games, 50% of season ticket holders.
01:11He said, so only 2% of Americans have been to a game.
01:17So America gets its football fix through television.
01:20And it was that moment that the NFL realized they weren't a sports organization.
01:25They were a media conglomerate.
01:27And if you look from that point on, and guess who Paul's number two was?
01:35Roger Goodell.
01:37So Roger has kind of taken that learning back from the late 90s through to where it is now.
01:43So, of course, the next step is going to be network television, and where is the money going,
01:50and where are we going as an audience?
01:53And I'll tell you why.
01:54We're all programmers.
01:56Like, back when you and I were kids, well, admittedly, when I was a kid, there was no electricity.
02:01It was so long ago.
02:02But we were slaves to the programmer.
02:08If we wanted to watch a show, we had to tune to CBS at 8 o'clock or NBC at
02:128.30 or whatever.
02:14We had the VHS, and then we had TiVo, then we had – and now, with the streamers, we're all
02:21programmers.
02:22We want to watch a show when we want to watch it, and we want to watch it in our
02:26time.
02:26Even with TikTok and Instagram, and, like, you're scrolling, and unless something's got you in three seconds, you're off.
02:35So we have all become programmers, and it's up to the media business to satisfy us.
02:42So that's why the NFL is now so huge, like, I think, 92 out of the top 100 shows.
02:49When we started in 94, the top NFL game rated, like, number 22.
02:56Now, out of 100, it's 93 because it is – like, as Don Ohlmeyer came up with the line, much
03:04CTV.
03:06Simple as that.
03:07And so what will happen is ultimately it will move.
03:10It has to move to streamers.
03:13So do you think, then, that network television, like the normal networks, like NBC, CBS, and ABC, you think they're
03:20in trouble?
03:21And Fox.
03:22And Fox.
03:23You think they're in trouble?
03:24Well, I think, well, define trouble.
03:28It's what you can see the NFL doing is that they're cherry-picking, and they're taking a game here, and
03:34they're taking a game there, and there's – and that ultimately –
03:38now, don't forget that the great mind who decides what they're doing is Howard Katz.
03:45Well, actually, I think Howie's just retired.
03:49But one of the – their key strategy, their secret weapon was the way Howard would be able to come
03:56up with a matchup in a key television spot, which made every game on TV worth watching.
04:02And so that obviously Howard has trained a whole bunch of people and, like, 20 computer systems.
04:08And so they're going to – that I think that if I was in their situation, I'd have some games
04:14on network television, some games on streaming.
04:16And then you've got to see where the money goes, and you've got to see where the audience goes.
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