The changes taking place in the very cultural fabric of the NFL mirror the changes taking place in U.S.
I have participated in a season long football pool each year for the last decade or so. With four weeks to go in the 2013 season I called DirecTV and let them know I would not renew my NFL subscription to Sunday Ticket, the package that allows me to watch any game I want on Sunday. What changes?
Where do I start? Roger Goodell the commissioner of the NFL is the latest in a long line of commissioners who has done every thing he can to extract the last dime out of fans. Don’t get me wrong, as a free market guy I have no problem with a business that prices aggressively. It is a bit distressing that the NFL itself is a non-profit organization that pays Goodell nearly $30 million per year. Imagine how much more they could do if they were for profit (not much besides pay taxes).
These days NFL games are so loaded with television commercials the flow of the competition is completely disrupted. I have finally realized one of the only reasons why I like Sunday Ticket is I can switch games to avoid getting bombarded with sales pitches. The excessive number of commercials becomes incredibly apparent during the viewing of the single Sunday and Monday night games. Often I turn those games off. More on Thursday night games later.
More annoying than anything is the new “player safety angle” Goodell and Co. are pitching. It seems he has suddenly discovered there are dangerous collisions taking place out there. The truth is now that trial lawyers have found in the NFL a new litigation target, suddenly these lawyers are claiming none of the former players had any idea they were getting paid huge sums to play a rough sport.
What is the NFL’s solution to these absurd claims? Now they have their referees penalizing defenders who collide with “defenseless” receivers. These penalties are now routinely assessed even when receivers change the positions of their heads at the last moment making it impossible to avoid blows. Amazingly, there are almost as many instances when defenders smash into other defenders heads while going full speed. Naturally these friendly fire situations are unavoidable too. But these collisions do not draw penalties or fines even though they are safety hazards.
What is the NFL’s solution to these absurd claims? Now they have their referees penalizing defenders who collide with “defenseless” receivers. These penalties are now routinely assessed even when receivers change the positions of their heads at the last moment making it impossible to avoid blows. Amazingly, there are almost as many instances when defenders smash into other defenders heads while going full speed. Naturally these friendly fire situations are unavoidable too. But these collisions do not draw penalties or fines even though they are safety hazards.
Worse yet, some of the so-called fouls on quarterbacks these days are so absurd they are causing increasing numbers of fans to realize the regulation of the game has turned into a third class farce. Between all the commercials, self-aggrandizing displays by disrespectful players, asinine taunts, and bad rules, the game is still very rough. However the victories and defeats in the games are now swinging on baseless rules that are arbitrarily enforced.
The point here is simple. NFL policies are destroying the basic premise for the sport's existence.
Of course some might say Commissioner Goodell seems like a too easy of a target. He isn’t. He has presided over the proliferation of the cash gushing revenue derived from Thursday night games. And for anyone professing to have his heart planted firmly in a new and profound "concern for player safety," the adding of Thursday night games are a smoking gun that proves Goodell to be a bald-faced liar. Few if any players are physically recovered from a bruising Sunday afternoon battle by Thursday. No self-resepecting animal trainer, say a racehorse trainer, would dare to subject his or her stable to such a quick turnaround. They’d be black flagged out of their profession for opening their athletes up to the obvious injury risks.
So here we have it. Our elected officials lie to us every day. NFL fans are being lied to. In the end, Goodell talks player safety on the one hand, and then endorses and deposits his weekly paycheck of more than $550,000 (that's right PER WEEK) with the other hand. He has compromised player safety more than any commissioner in the history of the game while talking more about the need for safety than any of his predecessors.
There are few individuals who can match Roger Goodell's hypocrisy (outside of politics).
So here we have it. Our elected officials lie to us every day. NFL fans are being lied to. In the end, Goodell talks player safety on the one hand, and then endorses and deposits his weekly paycheck of more than $550,000 (that's right PER WEEK) with the other hand. He has compromised player safety more than any commissioner in the history of the game while talking more about the need for safety than any of his predecessors.
There are few individuals who can match Roger Goodell's hypocrisy (outside of politics).
Sure, I will still watch a few games next year. But I won’t ever again pay to attend a game or build my Sundays around a sport that has now morphed. The NFL is overpriced because it has watered down its product with a flood of commercials and corrupted the game with absurd penalties in the name of player safety. The NFL is still a risky, rough, unsafe game. The value added by NFL management is its a farce now too.
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