And it's very successful for them. So I'm not surprised that they're doing that with the Internet. The catch is that those early negotiations had their greatest impact on TV and radio stations, which had the fundamental ability to report on games as they happened. Newspapers were not restricted, largely because at the time of the NFL's first broadcast contracts in the early 1960s, real-time game descriptions from newspapers were inconceivable. That has changed, however, in the age of the Internet, an age during which even newspapers could, if they invested in technology, broadcast games live on their Web sites.
Newspapers pitch the issue as journalistic.
Russo did not address whether those issues would surface in the face of the league-wide portal's deployment, which is expected to be complete by the time the first preseason game is played in August. But he did say that exclusivity of game content is one possible outcome of having a league-wide portal in place. Would its existence cancel out relationships that individual teams have struck with local companies and local media, he was asked. However, the Industry Standard online magazine reported that the guidelines of the league's Net provision preclude team owners from making any substantial decisions about their Web site without league approval. But the publication also said that individual clubs would still be able to pocket money from ads sold locally.