NFL does want you to watch their games after all

Making money has taken over the world of football, a favorite Sunday pastime for many Americans for years. What was once a Sunday afternoon ritual has now become an exercise in jockeying for the best advertising revenue, the right television time slots, and exclusive cable access.

The NFL has been fighting with cable companies all season over its NFL Network. The NFL wants to make more money from its broadcasts, but cable companies aren't making it easy. The network wants its games broadcast as part of a regular cable package. The cable companies say "no way," and prefer to offer it on a premium tier, presumably because of the cost of even getting the games from the NFL to begin with.

And it all came to a head this week when fans were grumbling about not being able to see the cheater Patriots play the New York Giants. The game was scheduled to be only on the NFL Network, which experts say is available to less than 40% of viewers.

Lawmakers got involved (they have nothing better to do than worry about football games on TV?) and the NFL Network has agreed to broadcast the game on both CBS and NBC. The game was such a priority because the cheater Patriots are likely to go 16-0 this season, something that has never been done before.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.