New NFL = New Coke

by NYCBronx on Nov 10, 2010 12:40 PM MST

I've been disturbed by a string of recent trends in the NFL over the past few years and I fear that it may impact overall interest in the game, starting with my own. In fact, the parallel that I think of is when Coca Cola, for no apparent reason switched a tried-and-true formula in favor of a flashy, sweeter one. The result is regarded by most experts as the greatest marketing disaster of all time. Why tamper with a good thing?

Basically, I think the game -- despite its incredible growth in popularity-- has been diluted by a range of changes over the years. First: new penalties devised to protect and Wide Receivers and QBs. With the recent changes to rules protecting defenseless receivers, the lower legs of the QBs, and the QB's hat, the game is becoming a referee's dream and an exercise in frustration for fans. On Sunday, a saw penalties that made me think that the game of pro football has become a farce. Exhibit A - Philly v. Indy - two defenders cleanly hit Austin Collie, 15 yard penalty for unnecessary roughness. Exhibit B - Same game - A defender taps Peyton Manning's hat on a 4th down, again, a penalty which gives the Colts a 1st down. Some time ago, a rule was devised so that defenders can't make contact with receivers past the 5 yard line, making the game less physical than it used to be, and now defenses are penalized for just about everything else, making it nearly impossible to play D. Great for scoring and the vertical game, but like Kyle Orton's QB rating lacks substance.

Second: infiltration of the game with TV commercials. Jeff Fisher let the cat out of the bag when he shared his story with the media of he being asked by the officials to take a time out at the end of a game for more commercials. This is just silly and farcical. When the tail wags the dog like this, the purity of the game is affected. Regarding the commercials-to-game time ratio, after watching 2 games on TV Sunday I felt nauseated from all of the commercials. It makes watching the game almost secondary. Soccer is almost heaven to watch in comparison; 45 minutes of uninterrupted play.

Third: talk of the 18-game season. This is based purely on greed and will harm the game as we know it. Mainly for the records and stats. Throw them out the window, as every statistic will be prefaced by "Yards per game...". It's difficult enough to compare stats to the 12-game season days. Some people like the idea of "All NFL, all the time" but when stretched out too far, the quality gets thin. Injuries left and right, backups subbing backups, no thanks. The result: a decline in quality of the core product.

I'm a big pro football fan, but I'm starting to get disillusioned and finding less enjoyment in the game. All of this is the NFL's own doing, not unlike New Coke.

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR

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I totally agree... mostly

The penalties are definitely getting ridiculous. I’m all for protecting the players, but these calls for touching the quarterbacks (which seem to also favor “star” QBs) need to disappear straight up. As for protecting the receivers, there is a problem with some of the hits they’re taking. But I’m of the school that this goes away once we get back to the roots of football and take away the face mask. If you’re going to go head first into him, you’re going to be on the sideline with a broken nose. Plus it might get rid of some of these darned baby faces around the league. Personally, I think it’d be great if they started looking a little more like hockey players.

On the commercials, it’s something I hadn’t noticed so much, but maybe that’s because I used to watch Nascar. No lie, they did a study of that sport and found out they actually show more commercials than race (let alone the sponsors on the car and all the special brought to you by ~~-Blank~~- crap they do). If it’s about money, they should just charge the sponsors more.

But I do have to disagree on the 18 game schedule. It’s just like when they went from 14 to 16 games as far as records go. You always remember that the older guys did it with less. But, you did mention greed on this subject, and that could be where I’m coming from… I just want more football and watching preseason games is such a **** tease.

None of us go out and play for stats. You just do whatever you can to help the team out. -- Eddie Royal

by Poster_Formerly_Known_As_Royal_Fan on Nov 10, 2010 1:29 PM MST reply actions

In regards to the commercials...

I can remember watching the World Cup one year, and they would do a split screen during commercial time. This was years ago, I don’t think it was well received, but I would prefer something like that. Instead of TD-commercials-Kickoff-commercials-1 play/end of quarter-commercials you can have it all occur at the same time, no TV timeouts, just play the game and those at home can see the commercials in a smaller screen below what is actually happening on the field.

It takes neither courage nor intelligence to cheer for a team only when that team wins. The true test of a fan's mettle is the same as it is for a player: Were you there when you were needed?

aka Solace

by Jason Witte on Nov 10, 2010 3:29 PM MST reply actions