Sharing same air space
Awkward viewing: Local teams play side-by-side on TV
The parallel existence came without warning, with the Raiders and 49ers routinely on the air locally at the same time on competing networks.
Sunday when the Raiders play the Los Angeles Chargers and the 49ers play the Los Angeles Rams — with both games at 1:25 p.m. — it will be the sixth time this season they’ve shared the same time slot.
It’s a significant change in policy, given that in past years teams in the same market were nearly always given different time slots.
The 49ers and Raiders aren’t alone. Sunday will mark the fifth time the L.A. teams have played at the same time, and the fourth time for the New York teams.
The NFL has long tinkered with television policy over the years, and according to one local club executive, there was no notice given to teams that there would be a change.
It wasn’t until the schedule came out that the Raiders and 49ers, as well as local affiliates KPIX (CBS) and KTVU (Fox) learned games would be on concurrently.
The NFL declined to make schedule-makers available and restricted its comment to the following statement:
“We have been examining ways to provide more football for more fans while at the same time being sensitive to each club. This is all done within the context of building a 256-game schedule.”
Requests for comment from executives from both affiliates, as well as both Bay Area teams, were referred to the NFL.
By being less concerned with local markets, the NFL continues to move towards offering its product en masse without provincial restraints.
Andy Dolich, a longtime sports business executive and operator of a sports consulting firm, assumes the change in policy was driven by an obvious motive: Profit.
“Clearly the fluid that runs through the veins of the NFL and any other professional sports entity is green,” Dolich said. “They didn’t just do this by whim.”
The NFL has gradually changed its television philosophies over the years, with all changes aimed at maximizing the amount of viewers and being less concerned about over-saturation.
Factors which led to the NFL to conclude that it was no longer a priority to keep same-market teams in different time slots include:
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With the proliferation of fantasy football as well as different platforms for viewing including cell phones, computers and tablets, servicing fans who want to see as many games as possible is preferable to catering to a local market.
“I think it’s part of the overall wallpaper over the last decade of the NFL going from the draft, training camp, the season, the Super Bowl — it’s a 365 day marketing plan, with everything coming at you,” Dolich said.
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The NFL has exclusive time slots on Thursday night, Sunday night and Monday night, plus Saturdays toward the end of the season.
If a team from a dual market isn’t in one of those games, it reduces the amount of combinations available for the remaining games. It’s simply easier to schedule without worrying about simultaneous slots.
The Rams’ move to Los Angeles, for example, meant that a 49ers game would instead be at later day time slot as opposed to when the club was in St. Louis and it was a 10 a.m. game locally.
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Put 49ers highlights on a the big screen at Raiders games and they’re greeted with cheers rather than jeers. The Raiders’ updates are generally treated with ambivalence at Levi’s Stadium.
The East Bay Raiders’ fan base doesn’t overlap much with the 49ers’ support in San Francisco, the Peninsula and the South Bay.
To the contrary on days when one team had a 10 a.m. slot and the other was locked in as the only game at 1 p.m., fans were more probably more likely to turn off the set than watch a team they don’t care about.