NFL saturation point

I have to say, that the league is pretty god damn unwatchable this year. Ratings are down double digits. Some people have cited the retirement of Manning and the suspension of Brady, the down years of stars like Rodgers and Newton, the neurological risks of the game that has kids playing soccer instead, Trump vs. Hillary, and the horrible officiating/review system that slows down games. Those are probably all factors, but I think the league just finally got too big for it's britches. There's just too much exposure and everyone is kind of getting tired of it.

I always felt like greed would eventually eat the league alive and that appears to be happening finally.

 

Also, I'm sick of the fucking shootouts. Those were cool every once in a while, but part of the reason I turned the shit off Sunday was that I knew it was going to be another 80 point game. It's dogshit. Those happen way too much now, and it's like watching a 7 on 7 drill for 3 hours. I miss the feeling of a touchdown being a big deal. Now it's like the three point shot in the NBA.


I'm also guessing that veterans are unwilling to watch the National Anthem getting shit on by rich black guys.

 

Yeah they are going down the NASCAR road. Putting a track in LV signaled the slide for NASCAR even talk of a stadium (which has been approved recently) in Sin City shows that the NFL is long in tooth. Can you imagine the scandals with NFL playas in LV for games?

 

The NFL has gone from being a football playing priority (on and off the field- players, commentators and pundits) to a bunch of reality-type tv shit along with over regulation, over sensitivity to injuries, over exposure and now, more than ever, politics. Add that to dumb shit like like color rush thursdays, bad officiating (exacerbated by HD replays over and over to prove it), bringing an emphasis of somehow needing to go to Europe and Mexico and shit (which most of the base is opposed to), the same old few teams always winning with the sense of having being fixed at times, and it's no wonder viewer shit is down. I imagine a lot of the viewership that was brought on by fantasy football which lead to rapid, large growth the past decade, has now settled down what with all the phone apps and stuff which has tempered actual TV viewership.

 

When the Panthers score a touchdown, I have to hold my excitement for five seconds in case there's a penalty. That's fucking horrendous. The entire concept of spontaneous excitement has been replaced by tedious overanalyis wrapped up in bureaucratic red tape. A catch should be a non-reviewable judgment call. When you played football in high school or whenever, if it looked like a catch and felt like a catch, it was a catch. You didn't have to stop the game to check if one of the eight HD cameras noticed the ball slightly kissing the ground. It's fucking ridiculous. And the people who want PI to be challengeable should watch a CFL game. They're already doing that and it makes those games impossible to watch.

Hopefully the league will simplify their brand once they start losing money, but I'm guessing it will be like this for at least a few more years.

 

agreesome, only it's not just five seconds, many times it's like three commercials- which usually includes a trip to the beer fridge. SO, I'm pretty buzzed by the end of the game- and like this past Sunday, ill as hell the rest of the day.

 

I'm just being an angry white guy. I'll still watch the games.

 

fuck the NFL and the grandstanding players

 

About the only social shit I agree with when it comes to the NFL is the 'play 60' kids thing and the cancer awareness stuff. Neither is political or divisive. Though the month-long pink wearing is a little long.

 

Outside the shootouts lots of teams are just playing horribly this year, combine that with the 24/7 NFL headlines and you get snapback. Also those draftkings/fanduel/dumbass ads probably burned a lot of bridges (In general the NFL could do without showing the same 4 ads on a loop every 3 minutes).

As to why the teams are bad... 'soccer slip' seems a little early to blame so I'm going with fewer practices and teams no longer holding onto even the cheap end of roster vets in order to horde cap space means that attrition hurts even more. For the more knowledgeable football people here do you think that the proliferation of shotgun spread offenses over under center stuff is leaving players less prepared for the NFL? Seems like we rarely have QBs that won't have to 'learn to take a snap and read the D' anymore and I assume that spreads to OL having different sets and other skill positions.