Charles Barkley typically has an answer for everything, but even Sir Charles is mystified why the NBA's TV numbers were up 8 percent — but those of the mighty NFL were down 10 percent last year.

"I don't think it has anything to do with the protests," TNT's "Inside the NBA" analyst said about the Colin Kaepernick-inspired player demonstrations for racial justice during the national anthem that have split the NFL for two years. "The NFL's ratings were so high, they had to bottom out at some point ... but I really don't know the answer to that question."

That may be a first for Barkley, but he's not the only sports TV insider wondering how the NFL has lost 18 percent of its TV audience, or nearly 1 in 5 viewers, in just two years while the rising NBA has become the hip, hot league for many sports fans. Thursday night's weather-delayed Eagles-Falcons telecast on NBC drew the lowest ratings in a decade for an NFL kickoff game, according to SportsBusiness Daily. Although CBS and Fox posted stronger numbers Sunday, Wall Street is watching closely to see whether the NFL's TV numbers plunge for a third straight season.

MORE: NFL overreactions from Week 1

There are plenty of theories but no hard answers about the changing fortunes of the two leagues. With the NBA appealing more to youth, some experts view the league as America's sport of the future. As the NFL struggles with concerns over concussions, CTE and domestic violence, others warn the NFL's popularity and participation could slide. They see the two-year slippage in the league's formerly bulletproof ratings as the first cracks in the NFL shield.

Football has ruled as America's most popular spectator sport since 1972, but its grip is weakening. According to the latest Gallup Poll, 37 percent of U.S. adults picked football as their favorite sport to watch. That's down from 39 percent in 2013 and a peak of 43 percent in 2006-07. Meanwhile, basketball has become the nation's second-most popular sport at 11 percent, with baseball falling to 9 percent, the lowest since Gallup first asked the question in 1937.

According to another national Gallup poll, the percentage of self-professed pro football fans plummeted 10 percent over the past five years, while other sports held steady. Pro basketball fans rose to 40 percent in 2017 from 37 percent in 2012. Pro football suffered its worst drops among whites and political Republicans and independents. At the same time, the percentage of college football fans was up slightly to 56 percent in 2017 from 54 percent in 2012.

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The $15 billion the NFL generated last year was roughly double the NBA's $7.4 billion, according to Forbes, but the NBA grew at an estimated 25 percent clip vs. 7 percent for the NFL in 2017, according to Fortune. If the NBA continues to double or triple the NFL's rate of growth, it would close most of the gap over the next decade. While the NFL struggles to establish American football overseas, the NBA has the best international growth prospects of the Big Four U.S. sports leagues, according to Forbes.

That's the media narrative, anyway, but media narratives are often wrong. Here's what we know so far.

Despite the NFL's bungled response to the frightening TMZ video of Ray Rice punching his future wife in 2014, the NFL still posted record TV numbers in 2015. Then the storm hit, sparking concern among owners and league executives, TV partners and advertisers.

TV viewership fell 8 percent in 2016. Don't worry, said the NFL; just a blip caused by the crazy U.S. presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The numbers got worse last year. Oops.

The NFL's average viewership plummeted 9.7 percent for the 2017 regular season. The typical game telecast was watched by 1.6 million fewer people (14.9 million vs. 16.5 million), according to ESPN.

But the Super Bowl's untouchable, right? Wrong. Despite the Eagles' thrilling 41-33 victory over the Patriots on Feb. 4, Super Bowl viewership dropped 7.1 percent from the previous year to 103.4 million viewers, according to Sports Media Watch. That made it the NFL's least-watched championship since 2009, according to The Wall Street Journal.

MORE: NFL Power Rankings for Week 2

The NBA, meanwhile, just posted its best TV results in four years, according to SportsBusiness Daily. NBA games across ABC, ESPN, TNT and NBA TV averaged 1.28 million viewers for the 2017-2018 season, up 8 percent from the year before. All four of the league's TV partners posted increases. Barkley's TNT registered its most-watched season in four years, with viewership rising 13 percent to an average 1.74 million viewers. Viewership for the 17 games on ABC jumped 16 percent to average 3.8 million viewers, according to Sports Media Watch.

As President Donald Trump continues to rail against the NFL and its players as un-American and unpatriotic, the league's TV partners and advertisers fear a third straight season of declining audiences in 2018.

So why is the NBA up while the NFL is down? Theories abound like mushrooms after the rain. Among them:

The NFL's players protest during "The Star-Bangled Banner." The NBA's players do not.

The NFL is under attack by Trump. The NBA is not.

The NFL has lost its biggest TV draws such as Peyton Manning. The NBA boasts telegenic stars such as LeBron James and Stephen Curry.

The NFL sacrifices the minds and bodies of its players. Most NBA players leave the game healthy.

The NFL discourages its players from talking about politics. The NBA encourages its players to speak out about social justice causes.

The NFL is Bill Belichick: closed, secretive, authoritarian. The NBA is Steve Kerr: open, honest, collaborative.

The NFL is traditional, suburban, politically conservative, nationalist. The NBA is hip, urban, politically progressive, global.

The NFL is Red State Republican. The NBA is Blue State Democratic.

On it goes.

MORE: LeBron James responds to Nike's Colin Kaepernick ad controversy

The NBA's advantage comes down to demographics, according to sports business expert Steve Miller of Rutgers University.

The average age of an NBA TV viewer in 2016 was 42 years old, according to SportsBusiness Journal, vs. 50 for the NFL and 57 for MLB. TV ratings for the advertiser-coveted 18-to-34-year-old and 18-to-49-year-old age groups rose 14 percent and 15 percent, respectively, last year, said media consultant Brad Adgate.

"Look at the average age of people who watch NBA vs. people who watch NFL," Miller said. "The NBA has had the secret sauce since Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. They don't sell themselves as this high and mighty league that's Middle America. The NBA sells itself as the people's league."

With some parents steering their children away from tackle football, the participation rate for 11-on-11 high school football dropped for the second straight year Even ex-NFL stars such as Troy Aikman, Terry Bradshaw and Brett Favre have said they'd think twice before letting their sons play football.

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Both the NFL and NBA declined to comment to Sporting News for this story, saying they don't like to compare themselves to other pro leagues, so Sporting News asked TV insiders and sports business experts why the NBA is up but the NFL is down.

Among the most popular theories:

1. It's the protests, stupid. It has been two years and counting since Kaepernick started his silent protest on the 49ers sidelines, but this week's controversy over Nike signing Kaepernick shows the issue is still hot among fans. #BoycottNFL fans who have vowed to stop watching games until all players stand during the anthem turned their focus on the Swoosh.

James, a longtime Nike endorser, said he stands with Nike "all day, every day." Tennis superstar Serena Williams, also a Nike endorser, praised her sponsor for taking a stand. "They're not afraid. I feel like that was a really powerful statement to a lot of other companies," she said.

It doesn't matter how many times NFL players say their protests are not meant as an insult to the American flag, police officers, the U.S. military or veterans. #BoycottNFL fans view the players as spoiled millionaires and see the protests as an insult to dead heroes and the families that loved them. With its giant American flags and fighter-jet flyovers, the super-patriotic NFL has marketed itself for decades as almost a sixth branch of the U.S. armed forces. Some fans feel betrayed by the league for not cracking down on protesters.

It doesn't matter whether some of these same fans are buying a beer or going to the bathroom during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Like Trump, they want players in football uniform to stand at attention. You might as well insult their mothers as seemingly disrespect "Old Glory."

Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. #JustDoIt pic.twitter.com/SRWkMIDdaO — Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) September 3, 2018

Bottom line: NFL players have protested during the anthem the past two years; NBA players have not.

That alone may be the biggest difference between the two leagues during that time span, said Jason Witten, the former Cowboys tight end turned new "Monday Night Football" game analyst: "I just think it's the perception with the anthem. That's just what it all comes down to," he said.

Will Cain of ESPN agrees. The "First Take" contributor believes fan attitudes toward the social activism of NFL and NBA players boils down to their "method of protest."

Said Cain: "If LeBron James and NBA players knelt before the national anthem, you would find a similar level of outrage. I've said this for well over a year on ESPN. There are things that Colin Kaepernick has said that I disagree with, and some things that I think are worthy of explanation that I do agree with, but the method of protest — kneeling before the national anthem — was an act that closed so many ears."

A national poll by Quinnipiac University found a big racial gap in how fans view the protests. White adults disapproved 63-30 percent; black adults approved 74-17 percent. There was a similar racial split over whether Americans approve the way "police in the U.S. are doing their jobs." White americans approved 70-20; black Americans disapproved 67-24.

2. The NBA has more star power. Sports is about stars. No league currently has more compelling superstars than the NBA. LeBron, Steph and Russ (Russell Westbrook) are almost too good to be true. They're world-class athletes, fashion icons, product endorsers. They're squeaky-clean husbands and fathers. They're politically active, unlike previous NBA superstars such as Michael Jordan.

"The NBA right now feels 'hot' in a variety of ways. They have a ton of great personalities, great storylines," said ESPN's Mike Greenberg. "High-profile players change teams almost every year. I would have thought I would have hated that. I think it's actually turned out to make it quite compelling."

U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain't going! So therefore ain't no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up! — LeBron James (@KingJames) September 23, 2017

There are plenty of good guys in the NFL, too. J.J. Watt of the Texans won the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award for single-handedly raising millions for Hurricane Harvey relief. Previous Walter Payton winner Larry Fitzergald's First Down Fund promotes reading efficiency for K-12 youth. Fitzgerald won plaudits for his moving tribute at the funeral of U.S. Sen. John McCain. Media coverage, however, tends to focus on NFL miscreants such as Johnny Manziel, Greg Hardy and Richie Incognito.

The NFL's biggest star, Tom Brady, is 41 years old. Don't forget the league lost Manning, its most popular player, to retirement in March 2016. It's no coincidence the NFL's TV numbers slid after the five-time MVP hung them up after 18 seasons, noted Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports.

Notes Fortune: "The NBA has been propelled in part by a deep bench of charismatic megastars including not only LeBron, but the Houston Rockets’ James Harden and the Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry. The NFL’s biggest names — including Tom Brady, Cam Newton, and J.J. Watt — arguably tend to be older or lower key. And, the NBA has much stronger ties to popular culture, especially hip-hop."

When they're both gone, Brady and Manning will leave a TV hole that younger NFL stars such as Newton, Aaron Rodgers, Dak Prescott and Andrew Luck will have to fill. Odell Beckham Jr. is the kind of electrifying talent who makes young fans excited, said James Brown, host of CBS' "The NFL Today" pregame show.

Keep an eye on the Chiefs, Jim Nantz, CBS's lead NFL announcer, predicted before the season started. They have two of the most exciting young players in the NFL, Nantz said, with QB Patrick Mahomes and speedy wideout Tyreek Hill. Sure enough, Hill was the talk of the league after catching two TD passes and returning a punt for another Sunday.

Things ebb and flow for sports leagues. The NBA was supposed to be done after the retirement of Jordan and the Tim Donaghy referee scandal. Now the NBA is thriving, with young stars who will carry it through the next decade. The NFL's doom has been repeatedly predicted since the 1970s, yet it's still No. 1.

As Greenberg noted: "The NBA is just a very compelling product now in a variety of different ways. I think the NFL, for the last couple of years, has felt a little bit less so. That might just be cyclical. It's possible three or four years from now, we'll say, 'Boy, the NFL is really on an upswing now, there's a million great storylines and a ton of great players and all that,' so I don't know what it is. To me, it feels a little more about the NBA being hot than anything else."

3. A bully is in the bully pulpit. The NFL has never had a more dedicated enemy than Trump. His war with the league goes back more than 30 years.

Trump has never forgiven or forgotten how the billionaire boys club of NFL owners rebuffed his repeated attempts to buy a franchise, according to Stephen A. Smith of ESPN. As the owner of the rebel New Jersey Generals, Trump led the USFL's successful antitrust lawsuit against the league in 1986, but it was a pyrrhic victory: The jury awarded the USFL $1 in damages, which were later trebled to $3. The USFL went out of business.

Before winning the presidency, Trump was pals with owners Jerry Jones of the Cowboys and Robert Kraft of the Patriots. Since taking office, however, Trump has used the player protests as a cudgel to bash commissioner Roger Goodell and team owners, as well as the players.

During a campaign rally in September 2017, Trump called on owners to fire "son of a bitch" protesters. He has urged his 63 million voters and 54 million Twitter followers to boycott NFL games. He has even called for protesting players to leave the country.

“You have to stand proudly for the national anthem or you shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be there, maybe they shouldn’t be in the country,” Trump told Fox News Channel's “Fox & Friends.”.

The NFL National Anthem Debate is alive and well again - can’t believe it! Isn’t it in contract that players must stand at attention, hand on heart? The $40,000,000 Commissioner must now make a stand. First time kneeling, out for game. Second time kneeling, out for season/no pay! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 20, 2018

True, Trump has taken potshots at James and disinvited the NBA champion Warriors to the White House, but his heart isn't in it the way it is with the NFL. It looks as though he won't stop bashing the NFL until Goodell unconditionally surrenders. In the meantime, he'll enjoy picking wings off the fly.

Trump is strongest politically in the U.S. regions that support the NFL the most: the Deep South and Rust Belt Midwest. In effect, he's urging his voters to fire their favorite league. With the constant drama in the White House, Trump is also siphoning TV viewers to cable news networks such as Fox News and MSNBC. Those viewers might have been watching sports. Instead, they're following the latest controversy involving the president.

"It's diabolical, but it's a win-win for Trump," said one TV analyst who requested anonymity. "If the players kneel, he attacks them for it — and his base eats it up, so Trump wins. If the players stand at attention, he takes credit for it with his base. Again, Trump wins. Genius."

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4. A war on football? Maybe it was the NFL's feckless response to the horrifying Rice video. Maybe it's cumulative impact from The New York Times and ESPN's ferocious reporting on the shattered lives of ex-football players suffering from CTE. Sports TV stars are becoming more open about their disdain for the violence in football, calling it dangerous at best, and immoral at worst.

ESPN's Michelle Beadle declared she was boycotting both NFL and college football games for a second straight year, The Big Lead noted. Beadle weighed in against football after Ohio State gave coach Urban Meyer a three-game suspension for mishandling domestic assault allegations against ex-assistant coach Zach Smith by Smith's ex-wife, Courtney Smith.

"I believe that the sport of football has set itself up to be in a position where it shows itself in the bigger picture to not really care about women — they don’t really care about people of color, but we won’t get into that for NFL either — but as a woman I feel like a person who has been marginalized," she said.

Despite covering NFL football for years. NBC's Bob Costas has turned away from the sport in revulsion. During a speech at the University of Maryland, Costas bluntly said football "destroys people's brains." Like boxing and horse racing, football's popularity could collapse like a house of cards, he warned.

Whitlock expresses his frustrations on the unfair "war on football." @WhitlockJason pic.twitter.com/M9dPzdecPi — FOX Sports (@FOXSports) August 25, 2018

On the other hand, ex-college football player Jason Whitlock of FS1's "Speak for Yourself" has blasted what he calls the "unfair, ridiculous war on football." The NFL has done more than virtually any industry to lift young black men out of poverty and turn them into millionaires, according to Whitlock, yet the NFL is vilified compared to other leagues.

"Football helps a lot of kids like me, and it does build character," he said.

As far back as 2015, ex-NFL quarterback-turned-TV-analyst Danny Kanell tweeted the "war on football" is real. "Concussion alarmists are loving it. Liberal media loves it," he wrote. ESPN's Paul Finebaum called Kanell's tweet "irresponsible."

5. The NBA is winning the social media game. By playing in shorts and tank tops rather than helmets and shoulder pads, NBA players are already more recognizable to fans. They're also more active and creative with social media than their NFL counterparts.

The NBA and its 30 teams encourage stars to share their opinions and lives with fans on social media. That, in turn, attracts the younger, cord-cutting TV viewers who are tuning out other sports.

While other leagues jealously guard their video highlights, the NBA strongly encourages the sharing of its clips on social media. So-called "NBA Twitter" has become a "sports bar that doesn’t close, a barbershop with unlimited seating, a family cookout where the NBA stars show up to hang," wrote The Washington Post.

King James, aka LeBron, is the most followed American athlete on social media, with well more than 100 million followers across Twitter (41.4 million), Instagram (41.2 million) and Facebook (22.8 million). The NBA boasts more than 1.5 billion followers and likes worldwide across all player, team and league social platforms. That's more than any other league. Stars such as Kevin Durant and Jeremy Lin have their own YouTube channels.

NFL policy prohibits players from posting messages on any social media platform 90 minutes before kickoff through post-game interviews. — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 16, 2017

NFL stars, on the other hand, are wary of social media, and with good reason. They know the NFL's 32 clubs don't want their players doing anything but studying their playbook. (NFL policy prohibits players from posting messages on any social media platform 90 minutes before kickoff through postgame interviews, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter).

When an NFL player tries to get creative, it often backfires. Antonio Brown of the Steelers got in hot water for secretly posting a video of coach Mike Tomlin's fiery locker-room speech about the hated Patriots on Facebook Live. An insulting tweet by Steelers teammate Le'Veon Bell lit a fire under the Jaguars before last January's AFC divisional playoff game. The Jags upset the Steelers 45-42 at Heinz Field.

Don't discount the impact from the #MeToo movement, either, warned Miller of Rutgers. When current or former NFL stars such as Manziel and Hardy are charged with beating up or threatening their wives and girlfriends, the NFL loses more disgusted female fans.

"Women know you have people in the NFL who have been accused of these crimes, and they don't want any part of it," Miller said.

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If you listen to the media, the fun has gone out of pro football. The threat from concussion lawsuits and CTE hangs like a Grim Reaper over the future of the sport, not to mention the arrests of current and former NFL players on domestic violence and other criminal charges. There are also the tedious, ridiculous debates about the new helmet rule, or what constitutes a catch.

As Greenberg noted on ESPN's "Get Up!" this summer: "Practically every football conversation we’ve had has been unrelentingly bleak. There’s just a never-ending series of bad news coming out of the league."

Maybe, but there's plenty of good news about the NFL and its players — if the media choose to look for it. We seem to be at a point, however, where the NFL can do no right and the NBA can do no wrong.

NFL supporters note that there's a double-standard at work. It has become fashionable to look down at the NFL for its "toxic masculinity," while admiring the more elegant NBA.

When the NFL timidly asks players not to protest during the national anthem, critics kill the league for allegedly trampling on their First Amendment rights. Meanwhile, the NBA has had a stricter national anthem policy for years. The NBA asks all players, coaches and trainers to "stand and line up in a dignified posture along the sidelines or on the foul line during the playing of the national anthem."

Why, then, is NFL the bad guy in the anthem debate, asks ESPN's new "MNF play-by-play announcer Joe Tessitore, while the NBA gets a free pass?

"I was in the NFL offices a few weeks ago. I turned to an executive and said, 'Can you explain something to me? Why are you guys the target of all this when the NBA has more stringent rules?"' Tessitore said.

Taking a page from the NFL playbook on how to become a year-round sport, commissioner Adam Silver's NBA has become Must-See TV. There's 24-7 coverage of player movement, the draft, free agency, off-the-court endorsements and ad campaigns.

The NBA 's regular-season attendance rose slightly to a record 22,124,559 during the 2017-18 season, the fourth consecutive year of record attendance, and the first time the league has cracked 22 million. Meanwhile, the NFL's attendance dropped 3.9 percent to 16,423,853 during the 2017 regular season. That number was impacted, however, by the Chargers moving into a temporary stadium of only 30,000 seats outside Los Angeles vs. the team's former 60,000-seat stadium in San Diego.

Judging by the glowing media coverage, it looks as though NBA is gaining on the NFL, but is that accurate? If you compare TV numbers, it's still no contest. The NFL is the 300-pound gorilla of the U.S. sports world — and will be for years to come. Live NFL games are the most valuable programming on TV, not scripted comedies like "The Big Bang Theory" or dramas like "The Walking Dead."

During 2017, the NFL accounted for 71 of the year's 100 most-watched telecasts across all networks, tweeted Mike Mulvihill, executive vice president of research for Fox Sports. NFL games made up of 13 of the top 20 TV broadcasts last year across all networks. NBC's "Sunday Night Football" ranked as the No. 1 show in prime time for the seventh straight season. Fox's late-afternoon Sunday game was the No. 1 show in all of TV for the ninth straight year.

To put things in perspective, Fox's late Sunday afternoon game window averages more TV viewers than the NBA Finals. Those national games on Fox drew an average 22.7 million viewers last season. The Warriors' four-game sweep of the Cavaliers on ABC, meanwhile, averaged 17.7 million, according to Sports Media Watch.

Then there''s the NFL's huge advantage in TV money. The league pulls in $7 billion a year in annual rights fees from partners CBS, NBC, Fox, ESPN and DirecTV vs. $2.6 billion for the NBA from ESPN/ABC and TNT.

Nantz respects and enjoys the NBA, but he believes there's a "perception-reality" gap when it comes to the NFL vs. the NBA. People shouldn't believe the NBA's TV ratings are bigger than those of the NFL, he said, because they're not even close.

"We're not producing NBA numbers and they're not producing NFL numbers, just to be perfectly clear so we don't mislead people to what the reality is," Nantz said. "The Super Bowl last year was down. The headline was the sky is falling. They did a 43 rating (43.1). There would be a lot of people, whatever the sport might be, who would love to have a 43 rating."

In 2017 the NFL alone accounted for 71 of the year's 100 most-watched telecasts.



In 2007 that figure was 22 of 100. — Michael Mulvihill (@mulvihill79) August 20, 2018

Yes, the Super Bowl was down TV-wise, but the NBA had its own problems during the 2018 NBA Finals.

With the dominant Warriors winning their third NBA title in four years (and Curry's Warriors and James' Cavaliers meeting for the fourth straight year), viewer fatigue set in. The Warriors' series-clinching Game 4 win over the Cavs drew an 11.2 overnight TV rating, down 11 percent from Game 4 the year before.

Will fans of NBA teams that don't have any real shot at the title continue to tune into the Warriors' dynasty? We'll see.

Still, there's no doubt the NBA is on a roll as it prepares to tip off the 2018-19 season Oct. 16.

With its diverse mix of 108 international players from 42 countries and territories in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa, the NBA is now a far more "global" sport than the U.S.-centric NFL, said Kenny "The Jet" Smith of TNT. As the world becomes smaller via social media, the NBA's reach gets bigger.

"It allows people all over the world, from China to Budapest to Beverly Hills, to follow people from their area. The globalization of the NBA has made it what it is today," Smith said. "When LeBron James goes to Spain, he's mobbed. I'm not sure Tom Brady's mobbed in Spain."

The NBA has a "broader" culture than the NFL, he added: "You can look at life through a flashlight or a floodlight. They're both lights. I think the NBA chooses to look at it through a floodlight."

Still, CBS's Brown, who played college basketball at Harvard, is old enough to remember the NBA's pre-Magic/Bird days, when the struggling league was forced to show the Finals on tape delay.

"I think the (NBA) has done a nice job of marketing and being hip with the millennials; with the 18-to-35 (year-olds). They're to be commended for that, for sure," Brown said, "but the NFL still continues to be the dominant sport."

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Burke Magnus, ESPN's executive vice president of programming, manages his network's billion-dollar rights deals with both leagues. The leagues are forging their own unique paths, he said.

The NFL, he said, was on an "unbelievable" upward TV trajectory for decades, but there were already factors causing some audience erosion during the league's high-water mark of 2015. Last season, the league lost TV draws such as Rodgers, Watt and Deshaun Watson to injury. Now it's the NBA's turn to ride the wave, he said.

"It's a global game. There’s international interest. You feel like it's on the rise," he said. "The competition is really good. The players are fun, interesting — great people — so you can see the next decade being similar. Their story is unique to them."

But anybody who counts out the NFL after two down years needs a reality check, Magnus said. Under new president Jimmy Pitaro, ESPN is doing everything it can to improve its strained relationship with the league. Just ask old TV executives from CBS and NBC what it was like to walk in the wilderness without NFL game rights.

"The NFL is still the top of the heap," Magnus said, "by a lot."