My latest column for the National Sports Journalism Center site at Indiana University is on the endless feast that the networks will be serving NFL fans this season.

********

When Fox Sports swooped in with the NFL in 1994, it dared to be revolutionary by launching a 60-minute pregame show. Previously, the versions aired by CBS and NBC were 30 minutes.

An hour? Such lunacy. Who would want to watch a pregame show almost as long as the first half of a game?

The answer: Everyone.

Less than 20 years later, an hour of an NFL pregame show almost counts as clearing your throat. This year, the various networks are pushing the notion of too much football on Sundays and beyond to the extreme.

Besides the regular Sunday pregame coverage on Fox Sports, CBS, NBC,  ESPN and the NFL Network, there’s two new major offerings this year: “That Other Pregame Show,” a four-hour extravaganza on CBS Sports Network and “Fox NFL Kickoff” on the new Fox Sports 1 network.

This is all in addition to the myriad of shows that provide constant talk about all-things-NFL during the week. And that’s not including the NFL’s 24/7 own network. There’s so much out there, Richard Deitsch of MMBQ needed 3,500 words for his preview of NFL studio shows.

Is there any chance of breaking the saturation point? Or does the concept of infinite not apply to TV and the NFL?

“It’s a logical question when you ask when is too much enough?” said CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus. “The answer is, I don’t think we’ve reached the saturation level yet.”

ESPN’s Mike Tirico tried to put it in perspective.

“I would assume at this point if we added up all the hours of pregame programming with so many people doing daily shows, it might equal the hours of actual football played during the week in the NFL,” Tirico said.

Actually, there’s probably more. There’s a simple reason for this endless smorgasbord of NFL: The audience is there.

NBC’s Sunday Night Football was the highest-rated prime-time show on TV last year; ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” does the highest ratings on cable; and nothing comes close to the Super Bowl. It’s the football version of “Field of Dreams.” Show the NFL and they will watch.

“I don’t see people complaining that there’s too much NFL product on now,” said NBC Sunday Night producer Fred Gaudelli. “At some point, ratings will get involved and how much you can sell things for will be the determining factor. But with five 24-hour sports networks, I mean how can you not have room for an NFL show or two or three? So I think at some point, we hit the threshold. Where that is I have no idea.”

McManus is counting on viewers finding CBS Sports Network’s new pregame show. Initially, the network was thinking three hours.

“Our feeling was that if you could start at 10 (a.m. Eastern), you also could start it at 9 (a.m.),” McManus said.

Sure, what’s another hour or four? McManus said the network got the idea to do a regular-season show after airing special coverage on CBS Sports Network during last year’s Super Bowl.

“The Other Pregame Show,” which can be conveniently shortened to “TOPS,” will be hosted by Adam Schien and feature Amy Trask, the former Oakland Raiders CEO who will become the first woman NFL analyst on a pregame show. After talking to Trask a couple of times, she has a chance to become a breakout star in her new TV gig.

“The lesson we learned from the Super Bowl is that if you’re creative enough and have some good panelists, you can put on some compelling programming,” McManus said.

Then again, you probably could stick a football with an NFL logo on the screen and it still would do a decent rating. Tirico has his theory on the insatiable demand beyond the fantasy football and betting elements.

“I think football fits the lifestyle of the fan because if you have five or six hours a week to devote to it, which is the equivalent of two Major League Baseball games, those six hours can have you as a pseudo‑expert on your team,” Tirico said. “You watch them play for three hours, watch a couple hours of pregame, listen to some talk during the week, get online and read whatever you need to get your fantasy team ready.  So when people want to access the information, it’s available to them and in a variety of methods of delivery, with personalities and approaches on all those pregame shows. ”

It all starts Thursday with an appetizer of Baltimore-Denver to launch the season on NBC. Then the complete feast gets rolled out on Sunday morning for Week 1.

Dive in America. The networks can’t wait to serve you football, live and in HD.