Total access is no more.
The signature studio show, which has been a staple on NFL Network since its inception, has ended. Tonight was the last show.
Questions arose for the first time during the show disappeared from the schedule for a whole week earlier this year. More recently, reports have emerged based on a recent round of layoffs show was closed.
At one point that would have been unthinkable. Total access was NFL Network. However, as the media landscape changed, the relevance of a nightly studio show decreased significantly. And honestly, the show was never the same after Rich Eisen left.
The closing of Total access happens at a time when Good morning football is two months into a bizarre hiatus, driven by the even more bizarre decision to uproot the show from New York and send it to Los Angeles.
These cost-cutting measures come against the backdrop of the league’s ongoing efforts to transfer NFL Network, presumably to ESPN. It never became what the league thought it would be, and its most valuable asset – live regular-season games – could be sold to the highest bidder, likely yielding more profit for the league than the network realizes due to the to keep matches.
It’s still unclear why ESPN would want NFL Network. The best reason might be to deepen the relationship with the league, making it inevitable that ESPN will continue to have a broadcast package when the next round of bidding takes place, likely in time for the 2030 season. If the league were to acquire shares in ESPN as part of that transaction, that reality would be reinforced.
Regardless of whether future developments will move NFL Network forward, the company is in the midst of some notable steps back. The human toll from gutting the network is, frankly, a poor prospect for a wildly popular and financially viable sports league.
