NFL FILMS Layoffs Could Signal Change In NFL Priorities

(From Sports Business Daily)

The layoffs earlier this month of 21 NFL FILMS employees were the "latest indication that many in the NFL may think" NFL Films' formula for football production has "outlived its usefulness," according to PAUL DOMOWITCH of THE PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS.

The NFL said that the layoffs were "strictly part of a leaguewide belt-tightening" and pointed to HBO's cancellation of INSIDE THE NFL, which "relied heavily" on NFL FILMS-produced work.

Patriots Owner and NFL Broadcast Committee Chair ROBERT KRAFT -- "We're in a time in America financially that's quite unique. Everyone's trying to run their business soundly. I think what you're going to see in America in the next 6 to 9 months is, every company is going to look at redundancy. Whether it's newspapers or brokerage firms or insurance companies or retailers or professional sports leagues."

Kraft added the NFL for NFL.COM has hired "many times what we laid off" at NFL FILMS.

But Domowitch writes that just "buttresses the belief by many that the league is phasing out the quality filmmaking that NFL FILMS has become famous for over the years."

Several league sources said that NFL NETWORK President And CEO STEVE BORNSTEIN has "shown less and less interest in FILMS' signature programming" and has indicated that "it's too expensive to make and that there isn't a market out there for it anymore."

One league executive said, "The shots that people associate with FILMS, those long, beautiful, super slo-mo shots of a spiraling football, THE NFL NETWORK people hate that. It's too slow for them."

Bornstein -- "I think NFL FILMS is a critical part of not only the mythology of the NFL, but a critical part of the success of THE NFL NETWORK. The people I know at FILMS thank the day that THE NFL NETWORK was created because they finally had an outlet for their product."

NFL FILMS President STEVE SABOL recently approached NFL NETWORK executives about running another AMERICA'S GAME series, which Domowitch notes many feel "may be one of the best things NFL FILMS ever has done."

But sources said that Sabol was denied because the league does not "have the money for it right now."

That decision has "reinforced the feeling" at NFL FILMS that NFL NETWORK executives "don't have much appreciation for what NFL FILMS is or has been."

Bornstein has "ended much of FILMS' signature programming."

Bornstein -- "Has the product mix changed? I hope so, as we evolve and figure out what people want."

Domowitch reports NFL FILMS' "company-wide sentiment is that NFL NETWORKS ongoing war with the nation's two largest cable operators, COMCAST and TIME WARNER, which is costing the league an estimated $250 million a year in subscriber fees, along with Bornstein's disinterest in FILMS-related programming, was directly responsible for the layoffs, though Bornstein and Kraft said there is no linkage."