Originally Posted by http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/peter_king/10/28/mmqb/6.html

4. I think you can feel the NFL tightening up over the stalemate with the NFL Network and the big cable companies. That's why owners meeting in Philadelphia last week spent far more time on NFL Network issues than other ones. There are two games in the second half of the season, exactly a month apart, that are very big for a couple of reasons. On Thursday, Nov. 29, Green Bay plays at Dallas. On Saturday, Dec. 29, New England plays at the Giants. Both are NFL Network games.

The Dallas-Green Bay game will be significant for playoff implications, and it will be a political football as well -- neither of the state capitals, Austin or Madison, is serviced by a cable company that gets the NFL Network. The game won't be shown in either place unless viewers go to a sports bar or have satellite TV. As for the Pats-Giants game, if New England enters the game 15-0, how will the 70 percent of the 65 million cable homes in America feel when they can't get a peek at such a historic game?

With no progress in sight, I think the only thing that can bridge the gap is either arbitration between the two sides or some sort of ownership stake in the Network for the cable giants. But it won't happen this year. And fans are going to be ticked off if they can't see those two games. "They'd probably be mad at all of us,'' commissioner Roger Goodell said the other day in Philly.