Sunflower Broadband subscribers are not receiving the live pro football package on the NFL Network because of the cost.

“It’s outrageous,” Patrick Knorr, general manager of the cable outlet, said about the premium price the network was asking for the eight-game package.

Knorr said subscribers would have to pay more than $2 more per month if Sunflower Broadband carried those NFL games.

The NFL Network’s eight-game package began Thanksgiving night when the Chiefs met the Denver Broncos. That game was also shown on Kansas City’s channel 4 because it involved a local team.

One other Chiefs’ game is scheduled as part of the package – Dec. 23 against the Oakland Raiders – and that contest will be available on Kansas City’s channel 41 (channel 14 on Sunflower Broadband).

In other words, Sunflower customers actually would be paying for six games instead of eight. Thus those six games are blacked out on Sunflower channels 154 and 235, the NFL Network slots on the sports and HD tiers, respectively.

“In this case,” Knorr said, “the cost was too high for a handful of games.”

Knorr noted, however, that Sunflower will carry the two college football bowl games owned by the NFL-affiliated provider.

The NFL Network has the rights to the Texas Bowl in Houston and the Insight Bowl in Tempe, Ariz. The Texas Bowl will feature Kansas State against Rutgers on Dec. 28, and the Insight Bowl will pit Texas Tech against Minnesota on Dec. 29.

“We’ll carry both those games,” Knorr said. “They are not part of the pro package.”

Sunflower Broadband is owned by The World Company, which also owns the Journal-World.