The NFL is trying to undermine President Trump because he has stated any number of times over the last couple of years that his administration would be looking closely at the anti-trust implications of these cable subscriber fees and bundled cable packages. They're going to lose their captive "audience" (i.e., people who have to pay for ESPN as part of a bundled cable package even if they don't want it), and they know it.
You won’t get any arguments from me over the cable issue. Cable originally was supposed to be advertisement free as well.
From a marketing standpoint I never did like NFL games on cable channels where a fraction of the audience can see their entertainment product. NFL Network was even worse. Their entertainment product is there so they can sell merchandise and keep fans interested.
When they started restricting access like that, I thought that was a marketing mistake in the long run. They can get away with it because of demand but eventually tastes change and demand can wane. The added crony ad revenue was probably too tempting as well. They are going to have a real mess on their hands if they can’t turn this around.
CGato