The NFL could have made more money selling the rights ad hoc at a set price, non-exclusive to anyone that wanted to pay to air, the notion of keeping up with joneses could have made it a must. They could have banked by streaming services, then selling to other platforms.
Cant tell me the exclusive rights money to a lone contract exclusive deal was higher than a model that could have given everyone acesss , at a nice price. Greed and arrogance. It was also a huge reach in the stability of DTV, whose reputation, rates, and price point disenfranchised consumers. This was a mistake. I think the exclusive money was simply a big figure they could not refuse with the least possible thought. The notion out of market games could be available to others was kinda of a new fringe concept. NFL did not have the foresight to see the future of cable. Perhaps they saw it as bonus cherry not requiring much thought in addition to all the other big TV deals.
I do think the future of the NFL is in its own network...