The
NFL games are assigned to every market by Fox Network Sports department in LA.
Since this is the beginning of the NFL regular season and no real pattern has
been established yet, we did not go through the rather laborious process that
is required to challenge the teams picked for San Diego and then take the steps
necessary TRY to overturn the assigned games.
I am sure the Fox LA "braintrust" reasoning for this game had
everything to do with Drew Breeze at QB and Reggie Bush at running back...both
of whom have local interest for San Diego. Was that a good
decision? I have no idea since it is too early to tell. Let's
get the season going, see some trends and then we will see how we handle the
games Fox Sports scheduling gives us for San Diego (which is often different
than the games they assign LA).
This happens each year during NFL Season when viewers would like to see different
games due to favorite teams or personal preferences and I appreciate the
emotion attached to the NFL games by our viewers. Frankly, it is more
difficult for us to pick games in San Diego since the home team Chargers are an
AFC team and as such, by NFL contracts, the majority of their games are on CBS,
while we at Fox6 have to find the games that might have the most viewing interest
to San Diegans, and that is not always an easy task.
This is made more difficult by the NFL rules regarding DH games when the home
team plays at home, and a myriad of other rules the NFL has that no one at Fox,
CBS and now ESPN and NBC can break. The NFL is a true dictatorship when
it comes to the procedures we all must follow because they are a very jealous
guardian of the #1 spectator sport in the U.S.: NFL Football.
We don't always agree with all the NFL rules, but we must follow them and I as
I mentioned earlier, the process is even more complicated by the scheduling
department at Fox Network Sports department, which, on top of the NFL RULES
that we must follow, have their own opinions about what games would be best for
each market!
While I am sure that is not the answer you were looking for, it is a complete
one since I wanted to give you a little more perspective on this issue...it
isn't as simple as it seems.
