Matt Freed, Post-Gazette

By Robert Dvorchak, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Having secured tickets to the Steelers home game against the Saints, Brendan Eccleston had a football weekend all planned.

His group of five would pack for their tailgate party and drive from Manalapan, N.J., near Trenton, to Pittsburgh for the Nov. 12 game. The 1 p.m. start would allow them to drive back Sunday night so nobody would miss work or school.

But under the National Football League's new flex schedules that allow TV networks to change starting times to accommodate nationally televised games, kickoff was moved up to 4:15 p.m. and the scramble began.

	Post-Gazette Art Rooney Sr., the founder of the Steelers, watches his team on television in 1972. Click photo for larger image. Related coverage NFL Network: Who needs a middleman? How times have changed: The power of TV NFL Network finds a niche Things you Need to know Flex scheduling Today: How TV took control of sports Tomorrow: Thursday night college games have catapulted the Big East to national attention. Tuesday: You can watch a football game on TV Thursday, Friday or Saturday. And those are just high school games.

After giving consideration to selling the tickets and staying home, Mr. Eccleston's group hit on a backup plan that cost them more but salvaged their weekend. They drove to Philadelphia, caught a flight to Pittsburgh, rented a car and parked in a $40 lot at Heinz Field for a quick getaway -- leaving before the game clock had reached zero -- to catch a 9:20 return flight Sunday night.

"We're happy to be able to attend a Steelers game, but we're not happy with having to go through the trouble and the extra expense involved with the time change," Mr. Eccleston said. "It's not our game anymore. It doesn't even belong to the NFL. It belongs to TV."

The symbiotic relationship between TV and the NFL or TV and sports in general has produced gradual but profound cultural changes. The notion of high school games on Friday nights, college games on Saturday afternoons and NFL games on Sundays is now as quaint as day baseball. (The last World Series game to be played in daytime was in 1987 in Minnesota -- inside a dome.)

"As we roll forward and as cable continues to expand ... it's just going to continue to happen more frequently, where you have overlap between high school, college and pros," said University of Pittsburgh Athletic Director Jeff Long.

West Virginia University linebacker Jay Henry, one of only 17 National Football Foundation scholar-athletes, worries about the impact of weeknight games, which have become common this year, on his studies.

"They're fun to play. And you're on TV. There are pros and cons to it: You don't have to get up and go to class. But, at the same time, I got to make up all this work, man."

The power of television
Paying customers, especially those from out of town, see the NFL's flex scheduling as the latest and most egregious example of another thing lost, like Christmas being stolen by the Grinch, to the power of television.

Yet despite the annoyances conferred upon some, there is a trade-off cited by the networks, the NFL and viewers at home. That Saints-Steelers game was the most-watched football game in the land on that Sunday, and the third most-watched TV program of the week.

Higher ratings mean more money from advertisers, which helps the broadcasters recover some of the money they pay for the rights to air the games. In the NFL's case, that's close to $4 billion this year alone.

"We understand the inconvenience that goes along with having a later starting time," said the authoritative voice of Joe Buck, Fox's top play-by-announcer who doubles as host of "The NFL on Fox."

"It's a domino effect. We flip the first domino. But we also fill the hotels, promote the city, feature the Steelers on a national game and allow more people to watch at home."

Forget time changes on Sunday. Football, which rose to the sports pinnacle because of TV, has the power to change the calendar, with the new NFL Network broadcasting its own set of games on Thursday and Saturday nights.

So many viewers gather around the two-dimensional screen, the equivalent of the electronic hearth, that the Super Bowl is now an unofficial American holiday. No script writer or omnipotent TV mogul will be able to create any show that attracts more viewers than the Super Bowl, the pinnacle of unscripted drama, spectacle and raw emotion.

"It never ceases to amaze me how fans rally around football," said Kim Williams, chief operating officer of the NFL Network. "I've never painted my face, but I have so many memories of being with family around the TV when football is on. When you hear that music from NFL Films, you run in to watch. It does bring people together in that way."

She does acknowledge that a Thursday night tailgating experience may have a different feel, but the bottom line for the NFL is the mass audience TV can reach.

"We don't think in terms of denying fans access. We're expanding the access," Ms. Williams said. "On the whole, I don't think the [flex] scheduling will impact tailgating or ticket sales."

If you ever want to gauge the power of TV and its hypnotic appeal, stand at the open end of Heinz Field during a game. Fans who battle traffic, search for parking spaces and pay big money for tickets turn their backs to the actual game so they can watch it on the TV screen on the scoreboard. (Then again, they can smoke in that area, and the beer stands and restrooms are more accessible than they are from the seats in the stadium.)

William Shakespeare -- the bard, not the one-time Steelers draft choice -- once observed that if every day were a holiday, to sport would be as tedious as to work. But he didn't have a plasma TV and an endless choice of games to watch.

Troy Aikman, the retired quarterback who is on Fox's No. 1 broadcasting team, notes that viewers have never been closer to the action.

"Fans have a much better perspective than they've ever had. But the speed of the game, the impact of the collisions, we can never capture that," he said.

Mr. Aikman is also wary of the diluted product that could result.

"My concern is overexposure," Mr. Aikman said. "It's hard to argue [about the added broadcasts] because of the popularity of the game. That doesn't mean we can take it all for granted. As a kid, I thought of Monday night as a special night. I don't think it's as special as it was."

Sports and TV grow together
Historically, the marriage of sports and TV has involved passion and money, and all marriages have their rough spots.

The first sporting event ever televised was the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany, and sociologists could have a field day connecting the dots to an Adolph Hitler propaganda tool with later references to TV as the boob tube and idiot box.

In America, the first televised sporting event occurred in 1939 -- the second game of a college baseball doubleheader between Princeton and Columbia.

TV was so new back then that consumers needed a reason to invest money to purchase a set. A big part of the selling point was that they could watch sports at home. From the outset, TV promoted sports, and sports drove TV sales.

"Husbands would be out shopping with their wives in department stores, and all the TV sets were tuned to college football games," said Robert Thompson, a professor at the Center for the Study of Popular TV at Syracuse University. "You could almost see a light bulb go on. 'Oh, if I spend a lot of money on a TV set, I can watch this.' A connection was made that exists to this day. It's a match made in heaven."

Now viewers are investing in high definition TV sets -- the new wall art -- and cable or satellite services to watch more than just the major sports. Programming now includes made-for-TV golf like the skins game, beach volleyball, poker, darts, billiards, horse racing, car racing, skate-boarding, dog shows, equestrian competitions and on and on.

But if TV pays for the rights to broadcast, it also wants to call the shots. That means influencing the very games it airs.

"Being there has changed," Mr. Thompson said. "If you're at a big game, you're witnessing the taping of a TV show. Look at some of the Olympic events. There's nobody in the stands because TV wants to show them in prime time to a U.S. audience. Things are done for the convenience of TV. There is a ceiling someplace, but we don't seem to be near it. Sports and celebrity seem to be two things there's an unlimited appetite for."

Does that make TV a sinister technology when it comes to sports? It all depends on who is affected.

TV has certainly triggered the seismic changes in the economic landscape. George Steinbrenner's Yankees couldn't have a $200 million a year payroll without a local TV contract, and athletes long ago could not have reached the cult status of rock stars without the national exposure TV affords.

Changing the rules
Other influences are as obvious as they are cumulative.

Every viewer worth his or her salt knows there's a two-minute warning in the second and fourth quarters of an NFL game. The practice was introduced in the 1960s to make sure the networks were guaranteed a chance to air commercials before the end of the half and the end of the game.

Then there's instant replay, introduced in the 1963 Army-Navy game as a gimmick to wow viewers. The technology is now part of the rule book. It's up to TV to provide the definitive angle.

"We're part of the process whether we want to be or not," said Richie Zyontz, a TV producer for 25 years who now works the Fox national game each week.

Coaches watch replays before they issue a challenge. And referees peer into a special screen to determine if a ruling should stand or be overturned.

"Because of TV, there are more and more interruptions. If you're at a game, it's extremely disruptive. It's changed dramatically," said Gerry Weber, 66, a Steelers season ticket holder of 40 years.

A former Pittsburgher who now lives in Camp Hill in central Pennsylvania, Mr. Weber is among those affected by the decision to move today's game from a 1 p.m. to a 4:15 start. This week's Thursday night game against the Browns also complicates his commute. And he wants the NFL to know of his displeasure.

"I travel over three hours each way to every game, which means I must either pay to stay overnight or return home near midnight after the 4:15 games. Weeknight games mean that fans of school age can't attend," Mr. Weber said. "Clearly, TV is driving it. It's all geared to what they want, not the paying customers. It's just a bad deal. I can't justify paying a lot of money to keep doing this."

The way the Steelers season has played out, only two home games carry a traditional 1 p.m. start time, including the Christmas Eve game with the Ravens.

Local fans have their own concerns.

"My liver really feels it," said tailgater Graeme Dunlap when asked about the later start times. "I have to get here at the same time, but it's just three more hours of stress on my liver."

But the out-of-town fans who have to make last-minute adjustments to travel plans feel it in the wallet.

Consider the circumstances encountered by Bob Umenhofer, a native of the Pittsburgh area who now lives in Boston. Some time ago, he booked an 8:30 p.m. Sunday return flight. With the 4:15 start, he changed it to 7:30 a.m. tomorrow at a cost of $130. He can impose upon relatives to stay over, but it's still going to cost him extra to park his car overnight at Logan Airport. And with traffic hassles, he'll be lucky to get to work by 11 a.m. Monday.

"Once again, the dollars rule," Mr. Umenhofer said. "I'm not happy about this at all. The networks make this happen for their ratings. The NFL has no regard for the fans affected by this. So if you can ask the new commissioner [Roger Goodell] who I send the bill to for my additional costs, I'd be grateful. Otherwise, I'll think long and hard about purchasing another ticket in the future."