NFL fans in the United Kingdom are feeling some unified anxiety regarding the lack of a TV deal between the league and Sky Sports. Earlier today, the league’s UK arm addressed the situation in a statement.
“With the new NFL season kicking off next week, we fully understand the concerns of our fans that the full UK broadcast line-up for the new season has not yet been announced, beyond the new Channel 4 agreement for Sunday Night Football and the existing deal with BBC TV for Super Bowl and Wembley/playoff highlights,” the league said in a message posted at NFLUK.com. “We have been in negotiations for some time to extend our broadcasting agreements for this season and will announce the full package for the 2012 season as soon as possible. However, it is possible that this may not be before Tuesday at the earliest.”
To fans in America, it’s a non-issue. Given the number of emails and tweets we’ve received on the topic in the past two days, it’s a very big deal for NFL fans in England.
At least they’ll have access to NBC’s Sunday Night Football, which hopefully includes the upcoming Wednesday night version of NBC’s Sunday Night Football.
If all else fails, maybe Sky Sports can slap together a strip billiards league. (Hats don’t count, Harry.)