The Armchair Quarterback’s Guide To The NFL: Power Rankings
The Armchair Quarterback’s Take Of The Week
The NFL Is Slowly Taking Over The World
The NFL announced yesterday that they were moving half of their Thursday night primetime games to CBS next season. CBS now has the rights to 8 prime time Thursday night games but will also produce the other 8 prime time games. All 16 games will appear on NFL network with the CBS crew and will include the remaining Thursday night games as well as a couple of Saturday night prime time games after the college football season has wrapped up.
The NFL’s gameplan is simple. Take the most profitable product in not only sports, but all of entertainment and make it even more profitable. The NFL created Thursday night games to drum up a market for their new network. Now that their network is established and football fans have fully embraced Thursday night as part of their weekly NFL routine they are selling that product off to the highest bidder. They still profit from their own television network and the Thursday night product they put out will now reach more homes and bring in even more money.
Meanwhile, the NFL continues to push more product overseas in order to try and tap into the European market. While the logistics of how regular games can be played half a world away are still murky, you can bet that if the NFL feels that they can make it profitable they will pursue it regardless of if American fans or even their own players and coaches are in favor of it.
Money rules all.
It doesn’t stop there. It is widely believed that the NFL will expand the playoffs by two teams for next season. Is this being done because they feel it will improve the game? No. Is it because they feel every season deserving teams that should be in the playoffs miss out because there aren’t enough spots? Nope. Once again this is strictly a money grab. Wildcard weekend will now have two more games for them to make money off of. Plus, more playoff spots means that more teams will still be in the hunt late in the season. That means more markets will have increased excitement late in the season. That equates to more tickets sold and higher television ratings in more markets.
You still haven’t heard the end of the possible 18 game regular season either. The only reason the NFL hasn’t forced this into action yet is because of the concussion and player safety issue. They are still trying to convince anyone that will listen that player safety is their number one concern. This, of course, is total garbage. The only reason they care about player safety is because they fear the legal ramifications and million to billion dollar payouts that come with them. If there was no concussion lawsuit and no public debate about the safety of football and long term health ramifications of playing this game the 18 game regular season would probably be starting this next season.
While most of us probably look at the corporate greed of the NFL and shake our heads we have given the NFL absolutely no reason to act any other way. Words are cheap and our dollars speak infinitely louder. As long as we gobble up any and every NFL tidbit that the league offers up the NFL will continue to look for ways to offer us even more. We’re NFL junkies and while we may not always like the actions of our “dealers”, we have to get our fix. Is anyone not going to watch the Thursday night games on CBS? Is anyone going to protest the extra playoff games by not watching them? If your favorite team is playing overseas for one game are you not going to tune in and watch? If the NFL does find a way to get their 18 game schedule will you refuse to watch those two extra games?
I think we all know the answer. The NFL is simply the best entertainment in the world and they know it. The Super Bowl was basically the highest rated television event ever and the game was absolutely horrible (unless you are a Seahawks fan). Television networks and advertisers are lining up to partner with them. You buy the gear, you visit the websites, you even invest your time (and sometimes money) to play fantasy football so you can create your own team and compete with your friends.
The only way that the monster that is the NFL will ever reel in it’s ever expanding empire is if the collective masses say “enough is enough” and stop tuning in, showing up, and cut off their endless revenue stream. I for one love my football WAY to much to give it up, even if I don’t like all of the NFL’s practices and money grabs. So instead I’ll voice my displeasure on blogs like this and then go on feeding my NFL obsession.
I have to have my fix.
I NEED it……
I LOVE it……
and the NFL knows it.
Now on to the Armchair Quarterback’s End Of The Year Power Rankings……