Controlling 93 of the top 100 most watched U.S. TV programming events last year, the National Football League can command an audience of 12 million ESPN viewers just by convening a room full of college-age jocks in suits, sitting around with their families and girlfriends, nervously waiting for their name to be called, as last month’s NFL draft once again revealed.
So when the most influential content source in all of technology, media and telecom announces the primetime games schedules for three media partners collectively paying it around $4.65 billion a season ... well, it kind of matters.
