The Golden Goose, star of the old parable warning us of the dangers of greed, is probably on life-support these days.
A perfect example of the ancient parable is being played out in the realm of television this fall, as the NFL Network and the Big Ten Network battle with cable television companies across the land for placement on your local cable dial.
In the world of sports broadcasting we once knew, networks and local television stations bid for broadcast rights of the stick-and-ball sports. This model worked pretty well through the first 50 years of televised sports, say from 1950 to 2000. As rights fees continued to climb, the sports entities had a nice revenue stream, the networks did OK, and we viewers typically had easy access to the games.
But that deal wasn’t quite lucrative enough, or at least that’s the obvious opinion of the NFL and the Big Ten Conference. A couple of years ago the NFL created their own network to carry full-time NFL content and a few live games, while not long ago the Big Ten Network launched their private network.
It’s a complicated deal, but in simple language it’s all about getting even more television exposure and making more money.
Accordingly, each network has insisted that your local cable company place their channel within the basic cable package, because that level reaches virtually every cable subscriber. And, oh by the way, both networks will levy a fee to the cable carrier of a couple of bucks per subscriber. In essence, this milks every cable subscriber in America — or within a region, in the case of BTN — of a couple of bucks a month. Anyway you figure it, that’s a very tidy amount of money.
However, most cable providers have balked at that arrangement, choosing instead to place the networks in a premium band, allowing them to charge the customer and cover the network fees.
I couldn’t help but think of motorsports as I watch this unfortunate spectacle. It reminds me again that whenever people in our sport wail and clamor to take things to “the next level,” we should all be afraid. VERY afraid.
“The next level.” That’s the level where any amount of money, no matter how great, is never enough. It’s all about bigger, with not much emphasis on better. Greed runs rampant. Nobody thinks long term; it’s simply get yours right now, and never mind the future.

“The next level.” That’s when we throw out all of our traditions, because we can make more money doing things differently. Did the fans — the people who ultimately pay the freight —get kicked in the teeth? Oh, it doesn’t matter…did I mention that the deal is worth more money?

“The next level.” That’s a treacherous place, because greed — and arrogance — leads men and women to think that no matter what they do, it’s golden. Guaranteed. Trouble is, the only guarantee in business is that there are no guarantees.

See, the NFL and the Big Ten are taking a calculated risk here. They figure the fans are so desperate for their programming, they’ll pay more. They’ll always pay more, right? But what if the fans decide not to play along? What if you turn your lifelong fans off, all in the quest to make a few more bucks RIGHT NOW? Let somebody else worry about tomorrow.
People are funny creatures. Each day is an opportunity to start a new habit, or end an old one. Think about the guy who for years has followed his local university, the games carried on a familiar local channel. Suddenly, the games aren’t there any more. Maybe the guy goes to the extra effort to find them…or maybe he just finds something else to watch.
The NFL and the Big Ten have reached “the next level.” And isn’t it just wonderful? Remember that the next time somebody is lamenting the state of auto racing, complaining that we can be so much more than we already are.
“The next level.” If it’s all the same to you, I’ll pass. Thanks anyway.