Forget Taylor Swift: Peacock’s NFL game is the real talking point of America’s favorite sport

CNN —

The NFL may have finally gone too far. In a move that many critics are calling “greedy” – and with ESPN analyst and famed sports radio host Chris “Mad Dog” Russo going as far as saying the league is “being a pig” – they’ve actually committed to doing something that will likely ensure that far fewer people watch a playoff game.

What do I mean?

In an extremely unusual move, the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Miami Dolphins game on Saturday night is free only to the people in these teams’ home television markets. All other people will have to tune in to the $5.99 a month Peacock streaming service to enjoy the game.

A look at the evidence suggests those who are upset with the NFL are right to be angry, and the NFL’s arguments for putting this game on Peacock don’t really hold up.

The NFL has claimed it’s an “experiment” and that streaming is the future. They point to the fact that they’ve been streaming regular season Thursday night games on Amazon Prime for a few seasons. The viewership for those streaming games were pretty good this season, especially among young people.

All of that is or may be true, but what the NFL is doing with the Peacock playoff game is something quite different.

First off, this is only the second time in over 50 years that an NFL playoff game is not available in every part of the country for free. Some might point out that there have been playoff games in recent seasons on cable (i.e. on ESPN). Those matchups, however, are almost always simulcast on ABC, which is available for free.

The Miami Dolphins' game against the Kansas City Chiefs will not be freely available across the country.

The one time the ESPN game wasn’t simulcast – a playoff match-up between the Arizona Cardinals and