Day 76

Fresh Start_76: Any Given Sunday

Well it seems like we have discussed this before. The NFL has been declining in viewership more and more throughout the season. Whether it is because of the poor play by the teams that drive the sport in the likes of Green Bay, Pittsburgh, Carolina, and Arizona to name a few. Being in the New York market doesn’t help either. The Jets and Giants haven’t been all that great (to put it nicely). The play of the field has been extremely boring to watch, and maybe that’s because the Quarterback play has been suspect from the big name QB’s. Aaron Rodgers is 18^th in the league in passing yards, with QB’s like Dak Prescott and Ryan Fitzpatrick ahead of him. Peyton Manning is gone, Tom Brady didn’t play the first couple of weeks, and Ben Roethlisberger on the sidelines, not knowing when the next time he will play. Rodgers has 1,742 yards this season, in a less then exciting season. Tom Brady is most likely the last of the previous legend quarterbacks, the new age being guys like Aaron Rodgers and Big Ben. Unlike Brady, the other two are good but don’t get as much press. Brady has the hardware, the super model wife, and the legendary coach to boot, and the others don’t. There isn’t as much as a love/hate relationship status established yet with the other guys. The Quarterback is the name that becomes a house hold name in the NFL, and the player that drives attention and attractability to the league as whole. Unlike previous years where Manning (Peyton) and Brady where driving the conversation and having marquee matchups, this year is built with primetime games that aren’t relevant and are uninteresting.

The scheduling problem is strickly on the NFL because these schedules where made months ago. Let me ask you something… Do you remember when Thursday night games where something special? When they were only divisional games and they were primetime games that happened late in the season. Of course those games would do well, because they have playoff implications and actually meant something to the league, and impacted the fan bases in a stronger way. Of course those games would get eyeballs on them, because of how good the teams were, or the rivalry that was showcased. Games like that are compelling and will always get eyes on them. There was of course a boat load of money waiting for the NFL in Thursday night football, because of the storylines and product that was being produced. It was on the NFL to mess it up and it has. Bringing Thursday Night Football to every week was the first mistake that the NFL has made to land them at this point. If the NFL would go back to the old style of Thursday Night Football and promote it and use the broadcast mediums of the NFL Network, CBS, and Twitter, the games would thrive once again. Nobody cares about a Week 2 matchup of Bills and Jets, because the season hasn’t played out and you don’t know what type of game you will get. Nobody wants to watch the Jaguars and Titans play a meaningless game in the middle of October. I understand the move of “Color Rush” jersey’s, for money and sales, I don’t mind that, but give us the old Thursday Night that was actually entertaining.

Another note on the schedules, put the best game possible on Sunday Night and Monday Night football. If you haven’t figured out that the most people will watch those games, then sorry NFL you need to go back to the drawing board. It might not seem fair to teams that don’t have good teams like the Colts or the Titans but the spot of Sunday and Monday night should be for the best teams in the NFL. Showcase the best of the best in the game and make people recognize the faces of the rising stars and the superstars in this league. If people can’t pick the superstars out of a crowd of people, they won’t be able to recognize that same player when he has the best performance of the week.

Moving on to the replay and the commercial break problem that the NFL has become addicted too. First with the commercials… I know the NFL has sponsors and they need the ad money to keep the league going and they need to have breaks in the action, but the extra point/commercial/kick off/ commercial has to stop. It has been a problem for a number of years now and it has to change. The gig got old and quickly at that. Find a way to make the breaks quicker or make the announcement crews be more entertaining and possible do a couple of ad reads during the broadcast. It would shorten breaks and make fans watching on TV less inclined to turn to a different channel.

Up next is the instant replay dilemma. There are plays that can’t be replayed that should and there should be a headquarters that all replays get reviewed somewhere in the country. That is something that Major League Baseball has gotten correct, and if the MLB has a replay system that is better than the league that dawned instant replay, there is a clear problem. Pass Interference should be able to be reviewed and for the people that want to get rid of the replay system, it isn’t the ability to replay the play that is the problem, it is the execution of the replay that is the problem.

The play of the teams will come and go for season to season but even without a polarizing election and an entertaining World Series, this NFL season would still be declining in viewership because of the league that has organized the game that many of us love and rely on every Sunday year in and year out. The new CBA is coming up soon, dear NFL fix this $#*!

Sources:(nfl.com, espn.com, recordonline.com)

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