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Nobody Asked for In-Game NFL Head Coach Interviews
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At last, Mike Florio’s incessant digging provided something useful. Everyone’s favorite football sleuth read the transcript of whatever that Sunday Ticket thing is all about and found this:
Reviewing the 2,506-page Sunday Ticket trial transcript is like looking for a handful of needles in a field of haystacks. Without knowing whether any needles are even in there.
…
Cathy Yancy, the NFL’s V.P. of broadcasting rights, policies, and compliance, testified that, starting this season, coaches will be required to give interviews during games.
“This year, we have a new policy going into effect where all of the clubs are going to have to make a head coach available live for an interview during the game,” Yancy said. “Each team has to provide a head coach; one in the first half, one in the second half. And that’s for all teams, and it’s available for all TV partners.”
This won’t matter to Charissa Thompson, who will just make up some shit anyway, but thus ends the optional “coach running off the field” interview. It sounds like it will be more like the NBA, where Erik Spoelstra says a whole bunch of nothing after the first quarter and then Doc Rivers says a WHOLE bunch of nothing after the third. “We need to play better defense and get into our sets on offense.” Thanks coach! Now let’s send it back upstairs.
Ask yourself a question – were you clamoring for NFL in-game coach interviews? Do you know anyone that was looking for this? Furthermore, when is the last time you remember a coach saying something meaningful to a sideline reporter during a game?
The answers are likely no, no, and then a scratching of the head and ponderous pause. These coaches do press conferences several times each week, they speak after the game, and they have rights holder obligations as well, so it’s not like there’s a lack of Nick Sirianni out there. There’s probably too much Nick Sirianni in front of a microphone, if we’re being honest with ourselves. Let these guys coach. We don’t need to be shoving cameras in their faces during a commercial break. Enough already. Serenity now!
The 2,506-page Sunday Ticket trial transcript includes a little news. This year, both coaches will be required to submit to interviews during games. One in the first half, and the other in the second half. https://t.co/La1X5dFM6C
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) July 28, 2024
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com