The NFL, facing pressure from fans and television networks, has developed a plan for televising the perennially inept Detroit Lions on future Thanksgiving Day games. The winless Lions were thrashed yesterday, 47-10, by the Tennessee Titans(11-1). The plan calls for the five different networks that currently televise NFL games to "share the pain."
FOX, NBC, CBS, ESPN and NFLN will each be assigned one quarter of Lions' play(15 minutes) to cover on the fourth Thursday in November. This plan will commence in 2009 with NBC, ESPN, CBS and FOX showing the first through fourth quarters respectively.
The system will be rotating, where the fifth network—NFLN in 2009—will be given a reprieve from showing any part of the game. If a network televised the first quarter one year, they will televise the second quarter the next year and so on. The network that is given off will televise the first quarter the following year.
"It's not fair for any one network to bear the brunt of televising an entire Lions game to a national audience," said NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell.
When asked which network would be responsible for showing an overtime session should the game require one, the commission laughed uncontrollably and called for the next question.
"Is this ideal? No. We would rather have Detroit removed from Thanksgiving all together," said CBS executive, Jim Harstein,"but this is much better than what we had. Yesterday, we ran a commercial for Carl's Corner Deli in Huron, MI during the last quarter. Carl's Corner Deli? What is that about?"
The Nielsen Ratings for the fourth quarter of yesterday's lopsided Lions-Titans game showed a total of 47 tv's(total) tuned into the game. Thirty-seven of those sets were in Flint, MI, 5 were in Nashiville, TN and 5 were in Houston, TX—former home of the Titans.
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