Lazy Man and Money

Mega-Deal: Get NFL Sunday Ticket for Less than $100

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A few years back, I mentioned that the pricing for NFL Sunday Ticket is ridiculous. At the time the $350 for the Internet only subscription really pushed my buttons. The equivalent MLB package was a third the price for 10 times the games. Well the pricing just got a little better, but it requires a little trick… or two.

Amazon.com has partnered with Electronic Arts’ John Madden Football and NFL Sunday Ticket to give you a package of the latest
Madden Game and the NFL Sunday Ticket for $100. As always, there’s a catch, maybe two. I believe the catches can be worked around.

The biggest catch is the game includes a code for “mobile devices, tablets, and computers.” (Aren’t tablets mobile devices? Wouldn’t any mobile device or tablet count as a “computer”? Shouldn’t I be less persnickety about this stuff?) So you aren’t going to watch it on your TV… unless you do something that is extremely simple for most people… connect a $5 HDMI Cable from a laptop to their television.

If you don’t have a laptop, here are a couple of other solutions that should work. Note I haven’t tried these, but again they should work.

  • Buy a Cheap $42 Android Stick – This allows you to run Android on your HDMI television. Since Android is designed for mobile devices and tablets, it should work. The item that I linked to is a dual-core processor, but you can get more power if you spend more money. I might by the quad-core version to have the extra processing power for 1080P video and because well, it seems like a really great gadget. You’ll need a mouse and keyboard as well, but those are cheap.
  • Buy a new Google Nexus 7 FHD Tablet and a Slimport for Nexus 7 – I suppose you could buy an old phone or tablet and use HDMI out with that, but I believe the new Nexus 7 to be a great deal on its own. Sure the cost is going to get near $350 that you would have paid anyway, but you get a tablet and a football game with this… both of which can be resold.

That last part I’d like to stress. I bought this myself and I fully intend to resell the Madden game. I know I’m not the only person to figure this out and there will be a glut on Ebay, but many gamers may be looking to score a deal on a game that sells for $60 on its own. If I can get $40 back, that’s like paying $60 for a season of NFL Sunday Ticket. The $40 could also subsidize the above-mentioned Android stick.

The other catch is that the wording on the offer makes it a little unclear if you are required to live in an area that can not get DirecTV. After all, DirecTV wants to get people to buy the NFL Sunday Ticket at full price and subscribe to their monthly service. However, the FAQ doesn’t list any particular residence hardship requirement. I’ve done a little research and many people are saying that it works without a problem. I’ll find out myself in a couple of days. If it doesn’t work, I suppose I can return the product. I’d be very, very surprised though if it didn’t work. Update: There’s more information on this from gaming website Kotaku.

They say that there are limited copies of this deal, so if you like it put a ring on it… or just act quickly.

What do you think? Is this worthy of the “Mega-Deal” award that I gave it in the title? Let me know in the comments.

NFL Sunday Ticket for $350 a Season? Really?!?!

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As I type this, Colbie Caillat has just finished the National Anthem before the start of what Al Michael calls the best reality show on television – the National Football League. I love football. I’m a Patriots fan, and even though tonight’s game is between the Vikings and Saints doesn’t impact the Patriots I’m excited for the game. I’ve been tackling furniture all day. I can throw my remote in a perfect spiral to any point on my couch with pinpoint accuracy. I’m not alone in my excitement. People all over the United States are celebrating the start of the NFL in (likely) more sensible ways.

Unfortunately the NFL doesn’t make being a New England Patriots fan in San Francisco easy. For as long as I can remember, DirecTV has had exclusive rights to the out-of-market football games. Since I’ve moved to San Francisco, I’ve been renting, which means that installing the satellite dish that DirecTV requires was not an option. Oh how I longed for another option.

It seems that I should have been a little more careful about what I wished for. This year DirecTV created an Internet-only option. Finally, I could get NFL Sunday Ticket over my cable modem and hook it up to my TV via the HDMI out port on my computer.

It is a dream come true… except… for the price. As the title says, it’s $350 for the season. That’s outrageous… there’s no other word for it. In stark contrast to the NFL, Major League Baseball’s equivalent package is $119.95 a year. So a season of football is approximately 3 times as much as a season of baseball. Sound pricey? It gets worse. When I buy the baseball package, I get access to roughly 155 Boston Red Sox games (several are typically blacked out because they are on other networks) over a span of six months. I’m paying $0.77 a game for the ability to watch the game in my living room. However when I buy the NFL package, I get access to roughly 14 New England Patriots games (a couple are typically blacked for the same reason as the Red Sox ones). That is $25 a game. It seems an NFL game is more than 32 times more expensive than a baseball game.

Some sports fans out there may argue that I’m playing with the numbers a bit. For instance there are 17 weeks of regular season football. The games on Thursday, Sunday, and Monday nights are available on other networks (NBC, ESPN). Realistically that gives the NFL super fan the ability to watch 34 games throughout the season… the games at 1PM EST and the games at 4PM EST on Sunday. However, the number of baseball games available to the MLB super fan is numbers in the hundreds with games at multiple times every day of the week from April to October… I’d estimate nearly 500 games a season.

The worst part is that there’s not much a consumer can do about the situation. NFL and its exclusive deal with DirecTV are essentially two monopolies. Not only is there no competition, but the most consumers don’t have the option to buy the actual product that they want the most. As I mentioned before, I’m only looking to watch my favorite team, the New England Patriots. DirecTV knows this. They have multiple advertising campaigns about displaced fans… I don’t think I’ve seen a one about someone who is just a general fan of the NFL who wants to watch any and every game regardless who is playing.

I’m not up on my monopoly rules, but if you are granted a legal monopoly, as I believe the NFL has been by the US government, shouldn’t you be required to offer a package that is appropriate to common fan’s desire? For example, a consumer should be able to pick their favorite team and get all their games for somewhere between $5 and $10 each.

What do you think? With the looming NFL labor strike next season, are you thinking boycott? I’m one of the game’s biggest fans, and I’m starting to think about it. The NFL needs a reality check. This seems to be the right time for consumers to deliver it.

Final Note: If you are giving into DirecTV’s exorbitant prices, consider using a DirecTV Promo Code to save some money.

Save Money on Television

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In the past I’ve given a few tips on saving money on television. One of my more popular articles in the past suggested that it may be possible for people to cut their cable television completely. To recap here where those tips in nut-shell:

  • Pay More for Television – Sounds counter intuitive, but if it saves you from paying $20+ at the movies every night spending a little more on television can be a savings. I paid around $150 last year to watch all the Red Sox games on television (I live in San Francisco, so I had to by the MLB Extra Innings package). I would have easily run up a much bigger bill going to sports bars for 6 months. Another example is to get DVR if it allows you to watch shows in less time and get you back to being productive. Time is money… and that can be money well spent.
  • Get an HDTV Antenna – This should be easier with television stations being required to upgrade soon. Most that I watch are already in HD… except for those pesky out of town sporting events.
  • Look into a Sling Box – I’ve found that baseball is very watchable from my brother’s Slingbox. Football isn’t as watchable in my opinion. The players are too small when it’s zoomed out – especially with the less than 100% resolution. Note, I’ve heard this against the terms of service with Slingbox. I have to be honest, I don’t really read the terms of service when I buy an electronic product that bills itself as not requiring a service payment. I don’t really understand how it can be as watching out of town sports was the reason it was invented (if you’ve read about the founders).

Save Money on Your Cable Television

  • Call up Your Cable Company and Threaten to Switch – Often times they’ll give you a cheaper rate if you pretend like you might switch. I hate using it like an empty threat, but fortunately the cable company sets me up perfectly. I ask them if they are going to carry every Patriots’ game this year. I know they can’t because DirecTV has an exclusive license with the NFL for out of market games. They know this isn’t an empty threat since I pay for the MLB package. I have strong incentive to switch to DirecTV – the only reason I don’t is because I’m Lazy. I don’t tell them that I’m lazy, but I ask them to give me a price worth staying for. It usually gets me a good deal for a year.
  • Check for Promotions – A lot of the time a cable company will have a promotion for acquiring new customers. On one hand it makes sense for them to dangle a carrot to get someone from another provider to switch. On the other hand, you should get something for your years of loyal service. I play the loyal service card when I can.

Even More Ways to Save Money on Your Cable Television