Select NFL football games coming to WGN Radio

[staggmovie]

Westwood One has the "prime time" NFL games. Thursday Night, Sunday Night, Monday Night and the postseason.

I suspect the London games are a part of that "prime time" package, as Westwood One will also have the London game between Houston and Jacksonville next month.

You must know better then mets18, that westwood One still carries football games. They might have

 

[umfan]

There's actually a third syndicator besides WWO and Compass and that's Sports USA.

Contrary to Mark W's rant, and I don't disagree with him that this isn't going to be a ratings boon, I do think there could be somewhat of a market for Fantasy Players who don't have Sunday Ticket Access. It's likely better than the programming it replaced.

I wasn't aware before this news that Compass had secured any NFL rights. They seem committed to growing the business.

 

[CTListener]

There's actually a third syndicator besides WWO and Compass and that's Sports USA.

Contrary to Mark W's rant, and I don't disagree with him that this isn't going to be a ratings boon, I do think there could be somewhat of a market for Fantasy Players who don't have Sunday Ticket Access.

Fantasy players and gamblers, as I speculated in an earlier post. NFL and college football ratings would be much lower than they are now -- except for home market games -- if the sport didn't have the tremendous gambling/fantasy appeal that it does.

 

[MarkW]

I do think there could be somewhat of a market for Fantasy Players who don't have Sunday Ticket Access. It's likely better than the programming it replaced.

Well, I certainly cannot disagree about it being better than the programming it replaced.

My guess is most Fantasy Fanatics are glued to their smart phones, watch a plethora of games from their favorite sports bar, or already have Sunday Ticket (or NFL RedZone). Listening to one or two out-of-town games on WGN Radio doesn't seem like a terribly efficient way of getting access to real-time stats they crave.

 

[TheBigA]

Well, I certainly cannot disagree about it being better than the programming it replaced.

And there aren't a lot of options for an AM today. They can run more conservative talk, more infomercials, or sports. They took the least objectionable option.

 

[boombox4]

Texans-Chiefs is a pretty impressive "hand-me-down," although it's of minimal interest in an NFC city like Chicago. I have a feeling the audience for out-of-market games, no matter the syndicator, consists mainly of gamblers and fantasy players with no real interest in the teams, just the spread or individual performances.

Or the game on the Westwood station might be a dull one. It does happen. We have a Westwood One NFL station and a Compass media NFL station in my metro, and sometimes the Compass game was the better of the two.

 

[PaulKTF]

I have a feeling we're going to see more syndicated programing (sports play-by-play, infomercials, syndicated talkers of some kind) and less of the more expensive (and often frankly awful) local content in the next couple of years on WGN.

 

[umfan]

Well, I certainly cannot disagree about it being better than the programming it replaced.

My guess is most Fantasy Fanatics are glued to their smart phones, watch a plethora of games from their favorite sports bar, or already have Sunday Ticket (or NFL RedZone). Listening to one or two out-of-town games on WGN Radio doesn't seem like a terribly efficient way of getting access to real-time stats they crave.

I cannot dispute a single thing you've written here. I can only relate that while driving to work on Sunday afternoon and, with the Lions not playing that day, I tuned into the games on 1270 in Detroit. Had they not been airing the NFL, I probably wouldn't have tuned in unless they had their update show going on which probably is the best radio product for Fantasy FB players on the radio. I think it really comes down to what options did they have to program there and the Compass games probably are their best choice.