As the NFL prepares for the first preseason games of the 2015 season, strange news has surfaced in the Motor City. Apparently, the Detroit Lions are now charging media members $150 to use their ethernet system.
Kyle Meinke of MLive Media Group dropped this bit of insane knowledge on the general public just hours before kickoff.
Cost for using an ethernet cable at Lions games last yr: $0.
Cost for using an ethernet cable at Lions games this yr: $150 … per game
— kyle meinke (@kmeinke) August 13, 2015
Yes, he said per game.
This means it will cost each media member $1,500 this season to cover the two preseason and eight regular-season games.
For the sake of their wallets, maybe it would be better if the Lions didn’t make it to the playoffs.
Meinke notes the franchise does have wi-fi available but that it is “typically crap.”
This seems like an awfully trivial thing to do. I mean, the media already has enough ammunition with which to bombard most NFL franchises with these days, but charging the men and women who cover your team for internet connection—when you’re running a hugely successful financial empire—is just petty.