SI

Roger Goodell Throws NFL Network Under the Bus During ‘Sunday Ticket’ Testimony

The NFL commissioner says NFL Network games were not up to his standards.

Jimmy Traina

During testimony on Monday, Goodell threw quite a haymaker at NFL Network, revealing why he pulled Thursday night games.
During testimony on Monday, Goodell threw quite a haymaker at NFL Network, revealing why he pulled Thursday night games. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

1. There’s currently a trial going on in a Los Angeles federal court regarding NFL "Sunday Ticket."

A group of "Sunday Ticket" subscribers filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL for selling the package at an inflated price and restricting access to "Sunday Ticket" by only making it available on DirecTV.

During testimony on Monday, Roger Goodell stated that he considers "Sunday Ticket" a premium product and cited examples of his standards for NFL telecasts. In the process, he threw quite a haymaker at his own network, revealing that he pulled Thursday night games from the NFL Network because the production was subpar.

NFL Network aired Thursday night games from 2006 to ’13. The package was then shared by CBS and NBC for three seasons before Fox took over Thursday Night Football for five seasons.

“I had my own opinion that our production was below standards that the networks [Fox and CBS] had set,” said Goodell via the Associated Press. “We had not met that standard.”

On one hand, that’s a pretty damning quote considering the NFL owns the NFL Network.

On the other hand, I never understood why the NFL wouldn’t give a package of games to their own network, but now we have the answer.

Of course, it just happens to work out that because the NFL Network production wasn’t up to the quality Goodell wanted he was then able to sell the TNF package to CBS, NBC, Fox and, eventually, Amazon Prime.

Amazon’s deal is for 11 years at $1 billion per year.

Goodell should be thanking his NFL Network staff for their inadequate work.

2. How bad and unwatchable were the NBA Finals this year? So bad that the best highlight came on Monday when Celtics guard Derrick White chipped a tooth while going for a loose ball and teammate Jaylen Brown told White he was ugly.

3. I’ve been out of the Hard Knocks game for some time, but if the HBO show is still your thing, you have a ton of options coming up.

The New York Giants will be featured in an offseason edition that begins on July 2.

The Chicago Bears will be featured on the regular edition that begins on Aug. 6.

And on Monday, it was announced that the in-season edition of Hard Knocks will feature the entire AFC North.

4. If you were on Twitter at any point on Monday, you likely saw the unflattering photo of Fox soccer announcer Landon Donovan.

To his credit, Donovan, after getting ribbed by former teammate Mike Magee, admitted that the hair issue was a result of a hair transplant.

5. Caitlin Clark has done it again. Sunday’s Sky-Fever game on CBS was the most-watched WNBA game in 23 years with 2.25 million people tuning in.

6. The latest episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina features interviews with Tom Brady and Jim Miller.

Brady kicks off the podcast with a discussion about his transition from the field to the booth for Fox. The future Hall of Famer explains why he wanted to become a broadcaster, what he thinks his strength will be in the booth, what he thinks his weakness will be, how he will judge his performance, how he thinks viewers will judge him, and more.

After the interview with Brady, author, reporter and podcast host Jim Miller joins the show to talk about the latest sports media news.

Why is WBD/Turner Sports expected to lose the NBA? What's the feeling inside of Bristol about Pat McAfee after his latest controversy involving Caitlin Clark? Could Stephen A. Smith leave ESPN soon? What sport does Miller think will leave ESPN and go to Netflix? Miller also shares his thoughts on The Sopranos finale, which aired 17 years ago this week.

Following Miller, Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY joins me for our weekly "Traina Thoughts" segment. This week's topics include the dumbest rule in sports, old school football video games, getting hacked on Twitter, Father's Day and much more.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 82nd birthday to the iconic Paul McCartney. His Carpool Karaoke with James Corden is always worth a periodic re-watch.

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 Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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