Jump to content

Why the NFL will never die


Foreigner

Recommended Posts

At 2:31 PM today there was a story written by a Tim Marcin for Newsweek questioning whether this is the end

of the NFL, "The end of the NFL?".

In it, he lists the usual subjects plus a new one added perhaps for shock, which we will list last.

1. The Ray Rice demestic abuse case.

2. Injuries

3.Kaepernick and the National Anthem.

4. Poor TV ratings.

5. Roger Goodell & deflategate.

6. CTE in deceased players.

7. And the new one, a Sexual Harassement Lawsuit filed in October apparently against a few NFL network people. 

 

I believe the NFL will be around long after any of us are around watching and enjoying the game.

For one thing, where are young men after coming from college football factories going to make pay that should last 

a lifetime. And all the auxiliary money going towards office people, stadium people, TV and media people, and on

and on. But the big thing is the entertainment and great football we see every weekend like the  Steelers, Panthers,

Lions, Jaguars, Eagles, and the Snow game that occurred last weekend.  It is great performances and maybe

heartbreak, but that is NFL football and America's sport is going nowhere.    

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It has a good short term future but two things threaten its viability.  One is the greed of the owners.  If they take games off the normal networks and start charging premiums they'll lose fans and revenue.  The second are parents.  How many parents will decide to not allow their kids to play because of short and long term health problems?

 

Great topic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, KW95 said:

The nasty injuries turn me off.  When I watch a sports game these days ( Especially NHL and NFL ) I feel like there is a good chance I will watch someone die before my eyes.  The games are so fast and powerful.  

 

 

 

.......probably in my 55 years of following the game, Stingley came the closest (perhaps Kevin Everett but I think his injury was freakish versus Tatum head hunting).....sad part was Stingley died at 55 totally paralyzed......Tatum never tried to make amends and died from diabetes after his leg was amputated......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The thing that will threaten the league will be when they can diagnose CTE before the player is dead. Once they can do that players will have to confront hard facts about whether it's worth the risk to their lives as opposed to now where they can ignore it because they just don't know for sure.

 

I believe it's estimated that the technology will be available within the next decade.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

some player from Seattle I believe 2 years ago returned a kickoff/punt and at midfield got rocked.  I turned to my wife and said I think this player is dead.

 

the hockey player that died Canada was my former student.  Donald Sanderson. He was an average player but liked to get involved in the tough stuff.  No reason for him to even play that senior league.  he was a very intelligent kid.  One of the most intelligent I've every taught.  Once he got on the ice, he turned into some other human being.  Its nice to see that fighting is not really part of the NHL anymore. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

The second are parents.  How many parents will decide to not allow their kids to play because of short and long term health problems?

I think we will see a significant change, in a decade+ in how the talent in the NFL is developed. Fewer and fewer kids might play in high school. But if a college coach from a BCS school comes calling on a kid who plays track and field and basketball and is willing to give the kid a full scholarship it may be too hard for some kids and really legally adults once they are in college, to turn down.

 

As long as money remains at the college level, the NFL should still have a football factory at the college level. 

 

The other possibility is that it could also open up doors for other countries to send their kids to American universities. 

Edited by Sammy Watkins' Rib
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The NFL is going to die from self inflicted wounds.  IMHO it's inching ever closer to the NBA on turf.  I cannot imagine that people are going to continue to invest so much time and money into games that repeatedly appear to be decided by the referees.   Just watch the highlights and let me know who the refs decided won.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I disagree. 

 

Football is a dying sport. I'm not saying it's dead, or going to be dead anytime soon, but the trajectory of the league is downward. 

 

Youth participation is falling, and will likely continue to fall. In a sport where the average life expectancy of a player seems to be considerably less than the average life expectancy of athletes who play any other major sport, parents will continue to hold their kids back from playing and put them in other sports instead where you don't run the risk of living the majority of your life with the effects of severe brain trauma. 


The NFL has nothing that is going to get participation to increase. All that's going to happen is the league is going to continue to lose market share of youth participation, and eventually, maybe 50+ years from now, it will have been lapped  by other spectator sports. 

 

My guess is that soccer will be the sport that capitalizes over time. There's no major risk of injury, it's global and as MLS continues to improve it's quality US interest will ascend with it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...where else are MAJOR advertisers going to throw their money on Sundays?.....ESPN Poker?.....ESPN Spelling Bee?.....Lawrence Welk re-runs?......Cooking with Julia Child?....oh wait she's dead.....come renewal time, the "cash cow" may see less "cream" as in lower dollars due to rate adjustments, but we're still talking BILLIONS.....

  • Like (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, billsfan11 said:

NFL will always dominate. Maybe not as much as a few years ago when it peaked, but there will always be tons of kids wanting to play, and tons of fans like us who want to watch

 

I'm not sure that tons of kids will always want to play. 


At some point common sense will prevail and parents will force their kids into other sports. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, jrober38 said:

 

I'm not sure that tons of kids will always want to play. 


At some point common sense will prevail and parents will force their kids into other sports. 

There may be a decline but there will still be tons.

 

Think about it even now. If one person quit the NFL, there would literally be thousands and thousands of people who would push their own grandma down the stairs to take his spot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, billsfan11 said:

There may be a decline but there will still be tons.

 

Think about it even now. If one person quit the NFL, there would literally be thousands and thousands of people who would push their own grandma down the stairs to take his spot.

 

I'm not saying it's going to die anytime soon, but think about how much advancement there's been in NFL head injuries over the past 10 years and how it's affected the game, and imagine what things are going to look like in 50 years. 

 

My guess is we're going to have a generation of players from the 90s and 2000s dying early due to CTE. It's going to become a full fledged epidemic among NFL players, and as the scientific research behind the affects of playing football gets more worrying, participation will continue to decline and eventually you'll have such a poor product on the field viewers will turn their attention elsewhere. 

 

As I said, the NFL has nothing that's going to make more people play the game, which is pretty much the opposite of every other pro league in North America. Basketball is growing, baseball is growing (they also don't compete against anything in the summer months), hockey is growing, soccer is growing. The NFL on the other hand is losing market share, and I don't see anything that's going to turn that around. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

34 minutes ago, MDH said:

The thing that will threaten the league will be when they can diagnose CTE before the player is dead. Once they can do that players will have to confront hard facts about whether it's worth the risk to their lives as opposed to now where they can ignore it because they just don't know for sure.

 

I believe it's estimated that the technology will be available within the next decade.

 

 

I agree that CTE casts a long dark shadow over the game of football.  Parents had reason to think that prior to CTE football was a wholesome activity for their kids.  There is strong reason to question this belief now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, jrober38 said:

 

I'm not saying it's going to die anytime soon, but think about how much advancement there's been in NFL head injuries over the past 10 years and how it's affected the game, and imagine what things are going to look like in 50 years. 

 

My guess is we're going to have a generation of players from the 90s and 2000s dying early due to CTE. It's going to become a full fledged epidemic among NFL players, and as the scientific research behind the affects of playing football gets more worrying, participation will continue to decline and eventually you'll have such a poor product on the field viewers will turn their attention elsewhere. 

 

As I said, the NFL has nothing that's going to make more people play the game, which is pretty much the opposite of every other pro league in North America. Basketball is growing, baseball is growing (they also don't compete against anything in the summer months), hockey is growing, soccer is growing. The NFL on the other hand is losing market share, and I don't see anything that's going to turn that around. 

I hear your points but I respectfully disagree. Everyone who plays football now knows the danger of playing football. Its not a secret anymore.

 

Like I said, do I think there will be a decline in kids playing? Probably, ya. Because to your point, I'm sure more research will be done to illustrate the dangers.

 

But I don't think it's going to come close to jeopardizing the sport.

 

As long as we continue to watch, and as long as million dollar contracts are given out to these players, I think the NFL will always have a massive waiting list of people who would do anything to make it pro.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There will probably be technological advances bringing safer helmets, down the line, but irregardless people

will go against the risk because it is about the money, and when people say it is not about the money, it is

always about the money.

It is like the business of the US is business. It is about corporations and companies of all size doing what

they can to make more profits. It is about robbing banks, cheating people, drug addicts hitting people

over the head to steal a wallet with $10 for a fix, it is about someone with a 35 inch TV wanting a 65 inch

set. We could go on and on about people wanting better homes, clothes, cars. It is always about the

money and there will be very few draft choices give up the money for the risk. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, BuffaloBill said:

 

 

I agree that CTE casts a long dark shadow over the game of football.  Parents had reason to think that prior to CTE football was a wholesome activity for their kids.  There is strong reason to question this belief now.

 

...in spite of all of the negatives, the "cash cow" will carry on even if it means "less milk"......BUT we're still talking BILLIONS in TV revenues......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...