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 18th
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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