Insight Bowl to air on local TV

Not a shocker here, but the various parties involved in the rights to next week's Insight Bowl telecast between Minnesota's Golden Gophers and the Kansas Jayhawks sure took their sweet time figuring out how they were going to make this available to the two teams' fan bases. And even now, some Minnesota fans are still out in the cold (or, more accurately, will have to venture out in the cold on Dec. 31 to see the game at a sports bar).

Supposedly the NFL acquired the Insight Bowl rights to track the progress of future professional players on its 24-hour league channel. After all, the NFL's commitment to the amateur athletics is so great, it forbids players from going pro until after their junior year of college. I mean, that is dedication, people.

Methinks the league actually acquired the Insight Bowl as part of a multi-pronged (think pitchfork) strategy to coerce cable systems into carrying the NFL Network, possibly the worst value in cable TV today. It is charging one of the highest rates for any cable channel to operators while delivering a bland stew of highlights, Rich Eisen, and mostly meaningless Thursday-night contests.

The ruse didn't work in Kansas City at all, because Time Warner Cable ain't carrying NFL Net no way no how, so the NFL decided to allow the Insight Bowl to air on Fox 4.

Now the Star Tribune is reporting that the NFL will allow Comcast systems in Gopherland to air the game to far more customers than pay to watch NFL Net on the premium sports tier where Comcast has banished it.