Television partners pay rights fees, schedule game times and shape on-field action by determining the length of timeouts depending on when they happen during a contest -- but even for all that control TV broadcasts often remain frustratingly at arm's length away from information or totally uninformed during key moments of the action.
For all they pay, and for their role as the most important conduit for fans to the action, those TV partners deserve better from their league partners. Fans deserve better, too.
Fox Sports had the NFC game and its situation late in the first quarter, when the Bears were facing a fourth-down situation, was troublesome. It looked like Bears coach Lovie Smith wanted a measurement to determine just how much of a yard the team needed to convert to gain a first down.
The measurement never came, and Fox rules expert Mike Pereira (the best NFL newcomer on TV this past year) offered only the insights that if a coach requested a measurement he should get one. So, maybe Smith never asked. Maybe the officials missed the request. But nobody ever seemed to know what did or did not happen in a timely manner.
Sure, the moment ended up being meaningless in a lopsided game, but the disconnect between the onfield action and the conduit of that action to multiple millions of fans seems silly. And it happens repeatedly with NFL games.
In no way should the networks get control of the game action (they're close enough already), but for all they invest and pay, there should be a way for them to be more informed. Accurate and timely access to such information would enhance broadcasts, and help differentiate what viewers get at home from what they get at the stadium.
It's one thing for the folks at the stadium not to know such information and nuances, they're getting a different kind of the emotional and visceral in person, but viewers should expect -- and receive -- better access.
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