September 16th Weekly Post

This week in sports media, two stories stood out to me. The first is the NFL’s new streaming partnerships with Amazon Prime and Peacock. These deals are changing how fans watch games and raise questions about who decides the schedule and which audiences are reached. The second is the movement of schools in college football as they switch conferences for better television contracts. Both examples connect to class because they show how media rights and broadcast schedules control much of the focus in sports.

From the NFL agenda-setting reading, three points stood out. First, the article showed how the league and television networks work together to pick which games are played at certain times, which ends up shaping what stories are talked about. Second, the schedule does not treat all teams the same. Certain teams and matchups get more focus, which changes the attention they receive from fans and reporters. Third, the NFL’s schedule can even influence media outside of sports, since big games can take up national coverage that might otherwise go to other events. This made me realize how much influence the NFL has beyond the field.

One question I have for class is: When the NFL builds its schedule to promote certain matchups, does that really help fans by giving them the most popular games, or does it hurt fans by keeping smaller teams and stories from getting attention?