Football!

Hello dear readers, it is that time of year again. Football season. I'm excited to watch my favorite teams fight for playoff spots over the next 16 weeks. But one thing I noticed this year was the revamp of the NFL website.

The NFL has taken a lot of time to gain traction over alternative media distribution for its main content, football games. Letting broadcasters bid on the rights to air football games has been lucrative for most of the NFL's history, but the Internet has changed that. Real-time game updates over the Internet have made watching the games less essential. The NFL has had to look to alternative forms of media distribution.

The Internet is, I believe, a great platform for alternative media distribution of sporting events. Streaming live football games would be very bandwidth intensive but radio broadcast over the Internet coupled with live drive-chart updates makes a viable alternative to someone who can't watch a game. Subscriptions could be charged, advertisement could be displayed, etc. but basically the NFL is looking into new ways to monetize its content and is heading in the right direction. Take a look at the new media rich website.

NFL.com