Remember free TV?

What happened to Free TV? We used to watch local college sports, such as the MLB, NFL, NBA, etc.

The cost of the right to air sports events has grown so high that free or legacy TV is no longer free. Cable had purchased the rights away from free TV and now it can no longer provide the games and events due to escalating rights fees. They are now passing the rights fees through streaming directly to the consumer. It may be slightly less to drop cable TV and subscribe to several streaming outlets, but it won’t be long before that will even change.

Inflation has caused tremendous increases in attendance to live events, and at an accelerated rate.

The first Super Bowl (AFL/NFL Championship) in 1965 cost $12.00 per ticket. 2025 cost $4,750 for the cheapest ticket. Eggs cost .53 dozen with bread at .21 cents in 1965. In 2024 eggs were 4.15 dozen and bread was $1.91.

All the while, rights fees grew from $1,800,000 on CBS for the Championship game to $110 billion over an 11-year agreement rotating between CBS, FOX, NBC, and ESPN/ABC for all games including the Super Bowl.

Remember when Drysdale and Koufax lobbied the Dodgers for $100,000 each? And last year the Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani to a $ 700,000,000 contract over 10 years ( most of it is deferred)…that’s like $70 million per year or 700 times more than Drysdale and Koufax.

It’s hard to believe this can be sustained.