Dave’s Football Blog

Let’s talk a little bit about the future of watching football. Most of here are primarily spectators, and we often go to great lengths to follow our favorite clubs. That often means shelling out big bucks for cable or satellite sports packages. Being a soccer fan means giving DirecTV an extra $28 a month for the top selection of European matches. NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers give almost as much ($300/year) to fill their autumn Sunday afternoons with football.

That’s why it annoys me more than it should to read about the number of people canceling their cable and satellite TV service in favor of Netflix.

Today, nearly 3 million users access Netflix’s instant streaming service, watching an estimated 5 million movies and TV shows every week on their PCs or living room sets…

Netflix, which lets subscribers hold on to movies for as long as they like, was cheaper, easier, and more convenient for consumers than building film libraries; DVD sales have plummeted as Netflix has grown. And while his streaming service would seem to present a similar threat to cable companies, (Netflix CEO Reed) Hastings argues that their real challenge comes from the Internet in general, not just Netflix. “I mean, will people disconnect their cable over time?” He shrugs. “Potentially.” Hastings may undersell the impact of his service, but some of his partners don’t share his gift for diplomacy. “Our goal is to have everyone cancel their cable subscription,” Roku’s (Anthony) Wood says.

Well, that’s sounds awesome. What if you’re a sports fan?

I mean, if all you watch is baseball, then sure, you can get that through the Roku Player, which my parents can’t stop praising. But how many sports fans watch only baseball?

Cable and satellite companies have us by the balls, because they have all those ESPN and Fox Sports channels we need, and if we want to watch all the games at home, we have to shell out for it. The WWL probably isn’t interested in changing this model, either, given that it makes $4.3 billion a year from all cable and satellite subscribers, including those who don’t watch ESPN.

Does that change if millions of people cut the cable in favor of Netflix? Given that about 98 million homes still have cable or sat TV, losing a few million here or there wouldn’t change much. ESPN would have to see their subscriber revenue cut in half before they did anything drastic, and even then, they would still be a behemoth. Plus, ESPN is owned by Disney, which benefits plenty from the current TV system.

On the other hand, Steve Jobs is on the board at Disney, isn’t he? And he has this little device called Apple TV that’s languishing in obscurity at the moment. If there were a way to get all the WWL channels on there, wouldn’t it make that gadget just a little more compelling? If you could pay monthly for the sports channels you want, then pay a la carte for everything else and get all the free podcasts and YouTube vids you can handle on top of that, would you?

But of course, why pay a la carte when you can get it all on demand from Netflix, right? Roku’s got that. What if their set-top box, which has Netflix and Amazon video-on-demand, also offered all the sports channels you wanted in HD, plus over-the-air digital TV, YouTube and video podcasts for a low monthly fee, with all manner of on-demand and PPV items on top of that? Would that not make it an even more compelling device?

Alas, how would they deliver those sports channels? Over the internet? You think cable and telephone companies will let you use their pipes for that, when they’re all trying to sell their own TV services? Satellite? Yes, it’s getting cheaper to launch sats these days, but designing the right technology for them is still a huge upfront expense, and even then, you can’t predict the weather. Whitespace broadband? We’re not there yet, and the National Association of Broadcasters will scream bloody murder when we are.

So Netflix and Roku can talk all they want about getting everyone in America to cut the cable and dump the dish, and yes, they’ll get plenty of customers. They will not, however, get us football fans, because they can’t give us what we want. We’re the ones who get the honor of keeping the cable and satellite companies in business for a long, long time to come. And they know it.

It’s a historic day for America, folks. Enjoy it. God knows Steven Cohen of World Soccer Daily will be insufferable today because of it…

Incidentally, in his interview with Chris Berman on Monday Night Football, Barack Obama said he would like to see a college football playoff. Will that happen now? Joe Ovies of 850 the Buzz doesn’t think so.

Psssh, please. Obama might be able to fix the economy, work for peace in the middle east, and usher in an age of energy independence…but the Rose Bowl answers to no one.

I know, I know, there’s a lot to talk about out there — the U.S. Open Cup Final on Wednesday, the start of the NFL season on Thursday, the start of the AFL Finals Series on Friday, and, of course, Manchester City becoming the new plaything of Arab oil trillionaires. Seriously, the Premier League is getting too outrageous for words anymore…

But before I get to any of this, I have to take a minute to chide Facebook’s ad servers. Look at what they served up for me today:

What is she, about 12? 13, maybe? At point did Facebook’s ad system look at my profile and decide that I might be interested in dating a girl who’s still in middle school? And if I give this ad a thumbs down, will it go even further down the rabbit hole and start inviting me to join NAMBLA?

Maybe I should tell Facebook that I admire Wayne Rooney. Then, any dating service it tries to sell to me will involve women over 50. Sheesh.

I got back from Las Vegas on Sunday night just before midnight, unpacked my bags, collapsed on my sofa around 1:00 AM, and didn’t wake up until about 10:30 or so.

Yes, it was that awesome a weekend — hanging out with the fun folks at the New Media Expo, watching the water show at the Bellagio, lounging out to Richard Cheese, getting propositioned by the hookers at the Hilton, sampling everything at the buffets, winning a poker tournament at the Mirage, losing a Premier League parlay (bloody Tottenham), partying on Fremont Street, watching from the Stratosphere Tower as the city lit up at sundown…

It was a grand adventure — until the jet lag hit me like a Martin Taylor tackle on Monday. I would lie down for a few minutes, lose an entire half-hour of my day, then get dizzy just by shifting to sit upright. Even two days later, I’m still shaking off the last vestiges of this. I wonder if this is how Merrill Hoge feels sometimes on the set of NFL Matchup…

Anyway, in a half-assed attempt to catch up, I’m going to throw some stories out there that I figure are worth mentioning here. I’m sure I’ve missed more than this. I’ll worry about that later.

• Jeremy Wilson of the Telegraph serves up this interesting piece on how the credit crunch is about to impact English football. As if Leeds United wasn’t enough of a warning to clubs borrowing on future success.
• Meanwhile, Deuce of Davenport shows us some non-league football supporters in England telling their goalie what they really think of him. Quality.
• Here’s one I missed completely — Chelsea chief exec Peter Kenyon told non-Big Four clubs to get their houses in order. From now on, he will be referred to here as “Marie Antoinette.”
• Dude, how ’bout that Hull City? How can you not cheer for that club?
• A musical about David Beckham’s career. That should cement his status as a gay icon. Hell, he might yet dethrone Cristiano Ronaldo.
• Maurice Edu is headed to Rangers. He’ll have to wade through a season of Scottish football to play in Europe, but it would have taken him just as long to make the CONCACAF Champions League with Toronto FC, anyway. Still, the timing of this move puzzles me. Is Scotland really that much better than MLS? And why Rangers, a club that doesn’t play anything close to attractive football? Of course, maybe that’s why they got Edu in the first place.
• Speaking of Yanks abroad, Cardiff City was unable to pull Kenny Cooper out of Dallas and now wants to lure Eddie Johnson away from Fulham, which shouldn’t be too hard. Plus, if you want to watch Jozy Altidore in La Liga this season, you’ll have to get DirecTV. I think it’s time for me to make the switch…
• It was always going to be just the U.S. women to win a medal in Olympic soccer, wasn’t it? The gold medal match between the USA and Brazil kicks off at 9:00 AM tomorrow. The Argentina v. Nigeria men’s soccer final, should be fun to watch. That starts at 12:00 A.M. ET on Saturday morning, so you’ll have to stay up late to see it live.
• Meanwhile, south of China, the A-League season started with a brawl between Sydney FC supporters and Melbourne Victory supporters. It looked slightly worse than the handbags between West Ham and Columbus Crew fans. Maybe.
• Speaking of Australia, Geelong has once again clinched the top seed in the AFL Finals Series, while Collingwood appears to be one drink away from falling out of the Top 8, and the credit crunch is pimpslapping the Pies, too.
• Two years removed from their Grand Final victory, the West Coast Eagles are getting a priority draft pick, and everyone’s all upset about it.
• Here’s your roster for the US Revolution footy team, which will be playing in the AFL International Cup, which begins in a week in Melbourne.
• Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark played the race card when a local writer described Anthony Smith’s behavior as “thuggery.” Uh, no, we use that word on anyone who beats up teammates in practice for no apparent reason. Joey Barton is also a thug. (Steve Smith is, too, but at least he’s our thug…)
• Speaking of the Panthers, those offseason acquisitions aren’t looking so hot for them right now, save for Jeff Otah.
• Whatever you do, NFL coaches, keep Kenny Chesney away from your locker rooms.
• Remember that upstart league that Mark Cuban a bunch of other guys planned to launch? Apparently, they’re waiting for Senor Mexico to get out of jail first. Classy.
• Brett Favre is not God, and this is why.
• Whatever you do, don’t try to take Warren Sapp’s picture without his permission. Seriously.

Okay, that’s enough for now. I’ll be more focused in another 24 hours, when I’ve fully gotten over walking out of the Mirage with a chain wallet full of Benjamins and blending into the blissfully unaware crowd as I nonchalantly sauntered back to my hotel room. And I’m not even sure that was my favorite moment of the weekend.