Someone should buy NFL executives a straw — maybe one of those ones with characters on them that you might find at Disneyland — because they are sucking the fun out of professional football.
On Nov. 8, the NFL hit Washington Redskins linebacker London Fletcher, Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jurrell Casey and safety Bernard Pollard with five-figure fines for horse-collar tackle.
Chicago Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall was fined $10,500 in October for his uniform violation: sporting green shoes to raise awareness of borderline personality disorder, from which he suffers.
The NFL announced in October that they would be cutting down on celebrations following the 2013 season. Beginning in 2014, any of the following actions could result in a 15-yard “unsportsmanlike conduct” penalty: “sack dances; home run swing; incredible hulk; spiking the ball; spinning the ball; throwing or shoving the ball; pointing; pointing the ball; verbal taunting; military salute; standing over an opponent (prolonged and with provocation) or dancing.”
With ridiculous fines for uniform violations and limits on facemask design, among many other things, the NFL appears to be slowly squeezing out the individualism and entertainment value of football. In other words, the organization is squeezing out everything that makes the NFL a ridiculously profitable desired viewing experience.
Football is more of an individual's game than it has ever been. Fans still root for teams, but there is more of a focus on the players now than in any time in the game's history.
Once upon a time, players were bound to one team. Their livelihoods and miniscule paychecks rested in the hands of greedy, czar-like owners. Today, players are free to move about the league at the conclusion of their multi-million dollar contracts and owners pay more for those players than ever before.
The jersey industry is larger than ever before. Although both the NFL and Nike (the NFL's licensed merchandise provider) cannot release uniform profit details, Nike's Morgan Shaw told Forbes the jerseys were “one of the many contributing factors to our North America geography growing 13 percent to $2.4 billion in total revenue for our fiscal year 2012 fourth quarter.”
That's billion with a B.
The NFL is making more money than just about anybody right now. Football (and I'm including the college ranks as well) is currently one of the biggest money-makers on the big blue marble.
According to Forbes magazine in 2011, the NFL will begin bringing in “nearly $7 billion in media money starting in 2014.” That money comes from ESPN, NBC, CBS and Fox, which pay to show the games live. Additionally, money comes from NFL Network and the equivalent NCAA networks to merely rebroadcast the games during the week.
Adweek estimates that more than 17.9 million viewers watched the first nine weeks of last year's NFL season. No fewer than five NFL games had 25 million viewers or less. The only other sporting event to score more viewers than any NFL game was Game 7 of the World Series.
It’s estimated that 73 percent of American men watch NFL games and that more than half of American women choose to witness these gridiron greats as well.
So let's review. The football fan focuses more on the player than ever before. The game is more popular than at any point in its history. The game is also making a ridiculous amount of money.
Celebrations are the bits of individualism in the game. The time that a player has to let the world know who he is. In that individual's moment he can express the pride and spirit he has for his team and his accomplishment, yet the NFL is trying to take all of that individual spirit out of the game.
NFL, just give us our fun and we'll continue to give you our eyes and our money.
Reach the columnist at benjamin.d.wong@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @benwong3
