Seems the ungodly amount of jack we shell out for cable TV is being put to good use. The trickle up theory is at work, with the amount of money we fans throw at the cablecos was tossed up the line, finally into the large pockets of the NFL. Paid forward, if you will. 

Thanks to the recently agreed upon new NFL TV deal, the game will stay on the old-school over the air networks thru 2022.

The NFL is going to be paid $4.9 Billion a season by CBS, ESPN, FOX and NBC for the rights to broadcast games. That alone would make the NFL the 161st wealthiest country (between the rollicking economies of Liechtenstein and Sierra Leone) in the world if you go by Gross National Product. That's not including the money received from DirecTv, radio, merchandising, ticket sales and any other cash-filled pie the NFL has stuck their fat, greedy fingers. The NFL is on their way to becoming the Borg of professional sports, assimilating cash instead of Captain Picard.

FOX gets "TV everywhere" rights, meaning they can charge extra on top of your cable bill for the ability to watch NFC games on FOXSports.com, mobile devices and whatever tech ultimately rears its expensive head in the next few years. Actually, FOX doesn't have to charge....who am I kidding? Have a tablet and want to watch sports? Prepare to be bent over!

For close to 15 years, it's been pretty simple to find the game you wanted to watch. NFC = FOX, AFC = CBS. Prepare for more flex scheduling, with some NFC games possibly switching to CBS and vice versa, AFC to FOX. What will happen? Confusion. 

Hell, I had a hard enough time when FOX picked up the NFC package back in the day, after decades of CBS with the NFL then NFC and NBC carrying the AFL/AFC. The first season of the NFC network flip, I would instinctively change the channel to CBS at 1PM...then smack myself in the forehead at 1:01 when I remembered Lions games were now on FOX. You know, the crazy little network with The Simpsons and robots. Funny, as much as I hated the FOX robots back in the day, I don't even give Cleatus a second thought...and worse, I know the robot's name is Cleatus.

I don't have the energy to get worked up over the Foxbot anymore...

Fans who had planned on a mid-autumn afternoon watching football may find themselves spending a long evening instead, as NBC will have the ability to flex games into their nighttime slot earlier in the season. Great for us at home...not so much for those who bought tickets for what they thought was a 1 or 4 PM game

The NFL Network, ESPN, CBS and FOX all have a Sunday NFL pregame show. All are obnoxious. So do we really need more retired players and coaches yelling at us every Sunday? Thanks to the new deal, NBC can say, "HELLS YES! We get a pregame show too!" At least it'll be on a network no one watches, Versus...to be called NBC Sports Network as of January 2012...so it'll be easy to avoid. Small favors... 

With ESPN a big partner in the TV deal, the long-in-tooth Chris Berman will remain on our screens every weekend of the football season, crushing all  our souls in the process. No matter what, Berman is always there on Sundays. He's an untouchable at ESPN. Hell, when the apocalypse comes, all that will be left to inherit the earth are cockroaches and Chris Berman.

Boy, will the cockroaches be pissed.