Don’t Expect Big Changes From New NFL TV Deals: TRAINA THOUGHTS

Most of NFL's TV broadcasts will likely look the same after new deals.

1. There has been a lot of speculation about changes coming to the NFL’s TV rights deals in the near future. (ESPN’s deal for Monday Night Football expires in 2022. The deals for Fox, CBS and NBC expire in 2023.) I’ve heard about the possibility of ESPN getting another package in addition to Monday Night Football, and I’ve heard about the league creating a streaming-only package in addition to the TV packages, among other possible moves. However, according to Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand, when all is said and done, the status quo (for the most part) will prevail.

Speaking to me on the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast this week, Ourand said the new NFL TV deals should be done relatively soon and won’t feature many changes.

“I know [the NFL was] pushing hard for it to be done by the Super Bowl,” said Ourand. “I’m skeptical it will be done by then. Everybody I’m talking to says … there aren’t really any big surprises there. All the main players are going to stick around and keep what they have. The only new wrinkle is what happens with Thursday night. Fox doesn’t want it. NBC doesn’t want it. CBS doesn’t want it.

I asked Ourand whether he would put money on CBS keeping the Sunday afternoon AFC package, Fox keeping the Sunday afternoon NFC package, NBC keeping the Sunday night package and ESPN keeping Monday Night Football.

“Yeah, I would bet a lot of money on that,” said Ourand, "and I don’t bet.”

According to Ourand, the only change he sees happening is to the Thursday night package. Ourand expects to see those games air exclusively on NFL Network and Amazon Prime.

Other topics Ourand and I covered on the podcast include why NBC decided to shut down NBC Sports Network and what that means for sports that aired on the cable channel, why the WWE decided to put the WWE Network on Peacock and ratings predictions for the Super Bowl.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher.

2. Vegas casinos made nice money in 2020, but, obviously, the pandemic took a big chunk out of their profits.

Here's a breakdown of how Vegas generated its income in 2020 (and the reason why I have never played a slot machine in my life even though I'm a degenerate gambler.)

3. Speaking of gambling, set your DVRs, because this is great news for those of us who like to relive the most painful betting losses of the college football season.

4. I know absolutely nothing about the stock market, hedge funds, the GameStop story or anything else related to money. Despite that, I still found these tweets and comments from Mark Cuban very enlightening.

This tweet that was sent to me Wednesday was somewhat helpful in explaining what the hell is going on right now, but I'm still lost.

5. I just need to clarify that this tweet I sent this morning immediately after hearing Deshaun Watson officially asked the Texans for a trade was a joke. I got several replies from people who thought it was real. And that is pretty telling about the state of sports-talk radio.

6. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Here's a hot take for you from someone who grew up in the '80s: "We Are the World" was a historic pop culture moment and an amazing charity endeavor, but an awful, awful song outside of Cyndi Lauper's part.

7. SPORTS VIDEO OF THE DAY: Patrick Mahomes's high school highlights are even better than you'd imagine.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.