Pay to watch Kansas City Chiefs on Peacock? Tune in Caitlin Clark’s Hawkeyes instead.

Decades ago, I used to sit down in front of the television set at 5:30 p.m. (Central time) and watch national news, followed by local news. It wasn’t really local; the local channel came out of Omaha, 80 miles away. But that was how I got my evening news. I read the Omaha World-Herald and the Des Moines Register in the morning. Subscription prices to the World-Herald and Register/Tribune were manageable.

Today, I read all of my news online from some of the same outlets, and they are cheaper if you receive them online. Additionally, I subscribe to the New York Times at a little over $20.00 a month, follow journalists on X (Twitter), and receive unwanted blurbs from various other free sources. I subscribe to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the e-paper of Stephanie’s hometown, and The Observer, my hometown newspaper, both at reasonable costs.

Today, I watch television for a Kansas City Royals baseball game, which costs me just short of $100 for six months. But I have been a Royals fan since the early 1970s. I watch the NFL games on NBC, CBS, and any other free channel if I can get it, especially if the Kansas City Chiefs are playing. I’ve been a Chiefs fan since I saw them play in the old KC Municipal Stadium back in the 1960s.

I am outraged that the National Football League has decided to broadcast tonight’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Miami Dolphins “exclusively” on the Peacock streaming service. It is bad enough that the last time these two teams met on Nov. 5, the game was broadcast on NFL Network. Neither Peacock nor NFL Network is available unless you subscribe, respectively, to each. More costs and more damned passwords are not what I need nor want!

More: Want to watch Dolphins vs. Chiefs NFL playoff game? You’ll need Peacock for that. Here’s why.

I missed the Nov. 5 game, and I’m going to miss today’s playoff game. I refuse to subscribe to a streaming source for one game. In 2022, Peacock Media had revenue of over $2.1 billion. It paid the NFL $110 million so that it could be the sole broadcaster of this game. I sincerely hope it loses money.

The greed of the NFL is beyond my ability to keep up. There comes a time when you have to say, “if I have to pay again to watch my favorite team, perhaps I have a problem.” I’m disgusted that the NFL wants to take advantage of me and other Chiefs and Dolphins fans who are not in the immediate Kansas City or Miami viewing area (local NBC stations broadcast the game — it’s one of the requirements for streaming). In addition to paying a monthly fee, there are no free trials during this game. “In addition to a subscription, viewers will also need a supported device, which includes Windows and Mac computers, select Roku models, Android and iOS devices and select FireTV devices.”

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) and Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) shake hands after an NFL International Series game at Deutsche Bank Park.

This is an experiment that should be labeled “SCRATCH!” on Sunday morning.

On the bright side, the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team is playing on free television, Fox, at 7 p.m. Saturday.

More: How to watch, listen to and stream Iowa women’s basketball vs. Indiana today

Marty Ryan

Marty Ryan lives in Des Moines.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Caitlin Clark on free TV more palatable than costly Dolphins-Chiefs