Didn't it used to be a thing where you had to have a winning Record/Play-off team to be on MNF?

It's not a major factor, but let's not forget stupid shit like breast cancer awareness week. How about you take all that money you spend on pink shoes and wristbands and towels and hats and jerseys and a million other things and just donate it to breast cancer research instead. I'm pretty sure everyone is "aware" of breast cancer by now. And billionaires asking the fans to donate is just giving us the middle finger.

This explains the lack of football threads and the abundance of poop threads. Not that I'm complaining.

We should collectively write a letter to Goodell. Let's do it.

I just think the world is changing and things don't stay the same.

NFL ratings are down
Cinema Attendance is down
CD Sales are down, downloads and piracy are up.

TNF and MNF have been abominations...every damn game.

That's totally fair. College football definitely also has this hypocrisy about the have and have nots. That's just on top of the idea that the-- NCAA is making so much money on the backs of unpaid athletes. With all that said, I still think it's fun to watch less talented players run crazy offenses or defensive schemes that wouldn't make it in the Parity of the NFL. I think the kids at least care much more about the wins and losses, even if they aren't as good as NFL athletes.

(At least where I am) They are more fun to go to, they have tradition with multiple heated rivalries, better tailgating, and hotter chicks. I can buy season passes with killer seats in the SEC for me and my fiancé for probably less than two NFL game day experiences. That's my rationale at least.

You nailed it!

Yes this too, being a coach over here in the UK the schematic side of football will always be of interest to me. I actually follow Coaches and systems more than I do schools.


And this I love the atmosphere of the games even when watching them on TV.

Does anyone think the Salary cap is the issue? It feels like the parity is too contrived sometimes.

It also has the reverse effect the teams are so similar that now 1 or 2 individuals nailed down to long contracts + the Franchise Tag (QBs) mean there is imbalance. Basically if you dont have a QB you suck 90% of the time.

Im hoping we get phasing out of the poor coaches and the good ole boys league. It's become a coaching league and the better coaches tend to be at the top. Talent still obviously matters, but so much is done off the field now that I don't think the difference in talent is that large.

oh yes, thank u

The Broncos killed the NFL right Rain man.

I tried explaining this to the Mule Toolers the other day and they didn't seem to grasp it.

This.

To add to the consensus of opinions here, it's becoming just too ****ing expensive to go to games for the average fan or the fan that hasn't been invested in it for years to come. I think that annoys a ton of people as well, so they tune out.

While it's easy to claim it's their right to do so, and perhaps it has been allowed to become the case, but that's a solid point. Regardless of if they have the right, or if it is right, it's now at the point where loyalty is only from fans to a team.

One thing that is killing my interest is it sure seems like the number of injuries have skyrocketed in the last several years. Fantasy football is one thing keeping interest high in the NFL but I can see that waning as well since half of your fantasy football team is on IR by week 6. Christ, we even have long injury lists for the opening week of the season, I don't remember that being a thing until very recently.

I think the fanduel/draftkings fiasco is what hurt the NFL a little...

The numbers were at all time highs when those 2 places were in full swing...

I'm glad theyre gone....though.

It's been said a billion times: Goodell does what the owners want.

I guess receiving a full education with paid food and housing along with a platform to exhibit your skills is "nothing".

This is beyond stupid.

Two keys reasons the NFL is rolling over in ratings:

1. Too many games on too many days have diluted the hell out of it, including the stupid 3 games in London in the morning they steal from fans tailgating for their home teams.

2. The No Fun League and stupid rules for penalties for celebration, what is a catch, and all the other silly crap that is slowing the game down and turning it into 4 hours of interruptions and penalties that have turned so many people off.

I'm in no hurry to watch any other games like I once was.

I still slightly enjoy the games, but not near as much as before i discovered it was basically the WWE.

Salary cap has made it a no brainer to give maybe three veterans yuge contracts and then fill the rest of the squad with rookies or veterans playing just over the required minimum.

Mark Cuban made point 1 a few years ago and was basically laughed at. Turns out he is right on if the ratings continue to slide, as I expect they will.

Nonsense firstly I said "next to nothing" that is comparative considering CFB is generating billions of dollars through TV, advertising, Gambling a load of people are getting rich off these kids I find attitudes like this stupid. Add to that the money they are generating is used to prop up other collegiate sports that cant make any money. Again exploitation!

The amount of commercials doesn't bother me. The pace of the game doesn't bother me.

What's turned me off this year (which began in 2014) is the hypocrisy of the League Office, especially when it comes to Domestic Violence. Ray Rice wasn't suspended until video footage emerged. Greg Hardy wasn't suspended, despite the fact he had a cache of weapons and beat up his girlfriend. A guy like Tyreek Hill isn't immediately put into a program and suspended to begin his career.

Then of course, there's Roger Goodell's smug ass, the stupid and baseless Deflate-gate, the over officiating of games while moving serious judgment calls to the League Office in NY, which has even more control over the outcome on the field than the refs in the stadium. The non-calls on Alex Smith and Cam Newton and other QB's. Phantom penalties on kick off and punt returns. Absolutely ridiculous PI penalties.

The league has become boring, stagnant and predicutable. When Jeff Fisher is the coach of a team in the #2 market in the US, while having only 6 winning seasons out of 21 (heading for 22), it's clear that it's a "Good Ol' Boys" network. There's no offensive innovation, despite the fact the game is heavily slanted towards the offense in terms of rules and penalties.

There's too many worthless head coaches (Gus Bradley? Fisher? Marvin Lewis? CRAP!). The players aren't allowed to celebrate. The officiating ****ing sucks. Marcus Peters receives a 15 yard Unsportsmanlike penalty for waving his finger, yet I see it time and time again, across the league, and no one's been penalized.

As much as I loved talking about the game, it's just not the same anymore. The Prime Time matchups are awful, as are Sunday Night and Thursday Night games, not to mention London, possible games in Mexico and China along with Saturday games in December.

There's too much over-exposure as well, be it ESPN, Fox and the NFL Network's daily and 'round the clock coverage. Too many players featured in TV commercials.

There's no "mystique" any more.

I'll continue to watch the Chiefs each time they're on the air but as for the rest of the league, I'm just not interested.

Each division should be on bye at the same time...irritates me the Chiefs have had their bye & Denver/Oakland haven't.


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And no mention of the NFL Boycott going on?

Get a calculator out and figure out how much money can be afforded to pay the athletes in every sport, men and women alike.

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Disturbing? Really?

don't forget college spread offenses ruining oline player preparedness for the pro league.

this. all of this.

plus the dink and dunk passing game is monotonous and boring. it was cool back when the Pats were the only team doing it.

I would submit that those that stopped watching the NFL over 1 guy protesting those people weren't real NFL fans to begin with.

And btw do they even talk about the protests anymore? I don't think I have heard it mentioned at all for a few weeks.

Dink and Dunk or the West Coast Offense, supplanting the running game with short passes, was mainstream 25 years ago.

that don't bother me. I actually like it. I love emotion it shows they care.

The down rating suggest some pockets of it. If people used to watch four games a week and now they only watch two, that's a bit of a boycott. No?

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Quality post. Will rep when I can.

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They let Bob Kraft and the Rooneys hand-pick the commissioner that every team has to operate under. They slapped the Patriots on the wrist for cheating twice, even going out of their way to destroy evidence. They've rewritten the rules of the game to favor a handful of marketable glory-boy quarterbacks, and they allow those quarterbacks' teams to get away with anything. They've allowed franchises to rot for decades under horrible owners like Mike Brown, Dan Snyder, Bob McNair, the Spanoses, and the Fords. They sell us on the idea of "parity," then give us a product where it's the Patriots, Broncos, Steelers, Colts, Packers, Cowboys, [insert NFC upstart here] and everyone else, year after year after year. And now they wonder why people are tuning out?

If you're not a fan of a select handful of good-ole'-boy teams, it's almost pointless to even care about this league anymore. The games are no longer won on the field. They're won in the league office, on the committees that lobby Goodell for changes every offseason, and in the owner's box. If you don't have an owner with clout around the league, your team might as well just forfeit the season.

The NBA had a major PR crisis back in the early 2000s because of their boring product, their players' atrocious behavior on and off the court, questionable officiating and the lack of parity in the league. To their credit, they listened to the critics and made changes. It's a whole new league now, with exciting games almost every night and former perennial losers like the Cavs, Clippers and Warriors getting their acts together and competing. Now it's the NFL's turn to face the music.

Serves them right. You fix the Superbowl to give Manning a ring on the way out. You make it obvious to everyone that it's fixed, and act as if everyone is dumb enough to believe it asn't. Then you wonder why the ratings are down. We want to see real competition, and a real champion. That;s what made the NFL great!

So all of you guys whining about what's a catch...

Do you want to get rid of instant replay? It used to be the ref would make a split second call on the field and that was it. If the calls were inconsistent, there was no way of telling whether it was because refs had a different idea of what exactly a catch was, or if they just didn't see it correctly in real time.

Now if you have 100 potential catches reviewed, you have to draw some (arbitrary line) and say, for instance, these 50 are catches, but these 50 are not. When a borderline call goes against a homer, homer going to scream (nothing new there).

I like the replay. I think a lot of times they could do it more quickly. I would like to see them experiment with doing it centrally, offsite. I think it could be done more quickly and more uniformly.

One thing I forgot: Billionaire owners holding cities and municipalities hostage regarding stadiums.

Minnesota did it, Vegas is trying to do it, San Diego is attempting to do it, Atlanta did it and so on. There is absolutely no reason, other than greed, for billionaire owners of NFL teams to insist that local taxpayers fund $1 BILLION dollar + stadiums with the threat of leaving the city if there's no compliance.

It's ****ing maddening and ridiculous. **** the Spanos family and all the others.

I don't agree with the complaint about too many flags. If you stop calling the "ticky tacky" stuff, players will just try to get away with more until they do get flagged.

I agree it is bad that cities subsidize billionaire owners. I don't think that has anything to do with the watchability of football or TV ratings.

Why should they suspend someone for something that happened long before he was drafted? In what world does and employer hire someone, full well knowing about their past, then immediately suspend them for those actions??? That's just asinine.

Somewhat relatedly, ESPN is dying. Ratings down isn't the real issue. The real issue is cable subscriptions are waaay down, and their commitments to the major sports leagues is insanely high.

For me, the dropoff happened once they started running the league like a business instead of like a sports league. It became apparent that they care more about revenues than about producing an entertaining product that's competitive. The Peyton Manning farewell tour, the stupid Super Bowl contest that clearly was just a marketing ploy, and all of the other stuff like that greatly damaged the credibility of the league. I used to watch football whenever it was on, and I would make a special effort to ALWAYS watch the Chiefs. Now I'll watch the Chiefs only for the most part, but if I'm traveling or something I won't change my plans to be available for the game. It makes me kind of sad since the NFL was part of my life for so long, but it's just not the same now that it's just a big corporation.

Yeah, this too.

You're right, but this isn't exclusive to the NFL. It's all pro sports.

With that said, the Giants built a privately-funded ballpark. The Warriors are building a privately-funded arena. The Clippers are looking into building a privately-funded arena. MLS teams have been privately funding their new stadiums for years.

There's no excuse anymore for pro sports owners to try to shake their cities down, because we've all seen that stadiums can be built without scamming the taxpayer. The standard should be that if you can't afford to build a stadium with your own money, you can't afford to build a pro sports team.

Because Domestic Violence is a serious issue in this country and NFL should take a hard line stance against ANY of its players, veteran or rookie, that have been arrested for such a heinous crime.

It's a privilege to play in the NFL, not a right.

I would 100% be fine with doing away with instant replay at this point, yes. It's pretty clear that having instant replay doesn't mean we'll have correct calls every time.

Or perhaps we actually let players play the game rather than trying to manipulate the relative power of offenses and defenses through arbitrary rules. :shrug:

THIS.

I have no problem with the NFL taking a hard stance against players who commit domestic violence crimes once they are a part of the league. But you just can't punish someone for something that happened and was completely dealt with long before he joined the league. The NFL does not and should not have authority in that circumstance.

IMO the players need to get back to two-a-days in pads and toughen their ass up.

Can you say "rub route" (if it's one of the chosen teams)? Oh, and, "you just have to learn how to run it." Right...

I think the "what's a catch" is legit. When you controlled a ball when you stepped out of bounds (the instant the clock would stop because the play is over), it's easy to question.

That being said, I'll ask again, if a player catches a ball on a slant route, on the home team's logo, runs to the sideline and has the ball knocked out of his hands after he steps out, is that an incomplete pass? If not, why not (based on the ruling the other day)?

And that's a serious question. I'm not even asking about an edge pass to a WR in the corner of the end zone, I'm talking about somebody near the 50 yard line that's taken steps in bounds?

This view of what has happened is completely bizarre.

Football has been marketed to non-football fans for so long that they've alienated their core audience. The fascination with both yearly and daily fantasy has contributed to making a completely imbalanced game wherein the only thing the league wants to promote is offense in order to bring in new viewers who watch because of fantasy implications.

Couple that with their duplicitous stances on domestic violence and head trauma, and their obsessive desire to remove any element of personality from the game and it's clear that the NFL is a bloated, corrupt, incompetent institution.

As long as it is run this way I hope it continues to wither. Hopefully the bursting of the live TV bubble will force them to work on a better product instead of marketing football to people who don't like sports.

two of the most boring things i have to listen people talk about
1. describing a dream they had to me
2. talking about their fantasy football team / matchup

Dude...last week I had this dream about winning my fantasy football league...

LMAO

...tell me MOAR

There was nothing atrocious about NBA behavior on-and-off the court compared to other sports leagues, and the NBA still has the biggest issue with disparity of any sport. You know when the average season begins that there are three teams, max, who are going to compete for a championship. This year it's two. The officiating is still poor.

The NBA evolved because it embraced a more international style of play thanks to the Seven Seconds or Less era in Phoenix. There were some changes in the hand check rules, but the rules have changed little. More than anything, the NBA benefited from the emergence of another once-in-a-lifetime player like LeBron James and a number of other incredibly gifted athletes. They've also allowed their players to humanize themselves both on the court and through social media platforms.

LMAO

I just sick of the games getting in the way of my commercials....

Goddell is screwed either way. If he doesn't make enough rules, the new age of soft whiny people will complain the players are not protected and the league doesn't care about their players. That it is a blood sport etc.

If Goddell makes too many rules, it pisses off the people who enjoy the hits and that sort of savagery.

I used to be addicted to Call of Duty. I played every single day and absolutely loved it. Then I went through a phase where I began to realize I was still playing all the time, but I wasn't enjoying it anymore. I was more annoyed / frustrated the whole the time than I was having fun. Eventually I just didn't turn it on one day, and it hasn't been on again since then. I'm 6 years clean now. :)

I'm at that stage with football right now, and even the Chiefs. I used to be addicted to football. Die hard Chiefs fan and football fan in general. Glued to my couch every Sunday from noon - midnight. The highs were extremely high and the lows were extremely low.

Over the last 5 years or so, I've found myself becoming more and more annoyed and frustrated while watching than I am enjoying it. I'm still watching, but I'm getting close to just turning it off and never turning it back on again.

Defenders can't play defense anymore. It's just ridiculous watching offenses march up and down the field without any worry of a defender actually trying to keep them from catching the ball. If they do try it's just a flag and a fine, so you can literally see them "letting up" to let the guy catch the ball.

It used to be that a play would happen, you would have a reaction (good or bad) and then you might go, oh, there's a flag.

Now, every single play is "is there a flag? No? Ok now I can react." That alone takes the immediate emotion out of whatever happened.

Even when calls go the Chiefs way I find myself annoyed because it was a ridiculous call on many occasions, and I find myself griping even when we gained a bunch of yards because of it. In the back of my mind I know a similar play is going to go against us, and it's all a matter of timing with such plays that make it a really big deal or not.

Nobody knows what a catch is anymore. "Rules specialists" get it wrong every time they try. Or is it the guys on the field getting it wrong? Nobody knows.

I feel like it's not about the players anymore. It's about rules and refs and how any particular ref/umpire/crew is going to see a subjective thing. A game, heck, a season can come down to things that have nothing to do with the players, and it seems to be happening more and more.

My highs and lows have settled into a "Meh" for pretty much everything. Chiefs have been taking the ball away a lot lately. In the past I'd be screaming and jumping and high fiving and ecstatic any time that would happen. Now I just kinda smile and think, oh, good job. I never jump off the couch anymore, though, for any reason good or bad.

Same when things go against us. I just kinda roll my eyes and think oh well. My emotion is gone because the game I fell in love with is completely different now. It's simply not the same game.

The experience at the stadium is a big part of that, too. I used to think nothing was better on earth than being at Arrowhead with thousands of fans. They've completely destroyed the stadium experience, though, which is why I killed my tickets at a time when we've won, what, 9 home games in a row..?? It's just not worth it anymore even when they're winning.

As others have mentioned, the commercials are just insane, too. For example, "Welcome back from the break. Let's watch this kickoff sail out of the back of the endzone, and now we'll take another commercial break."

Because of that I never watch any games live anymore. I record them so I can fast forward, and that's honestly a part of why I don't watch other games I think. I'm watching the Chiefs game recorded while the other games are on, and I don't care enough about the others to record them and watch later, so my viewership went from noon - midnight to just whenever I want to watch that one game.

So yeah, I'm still watching the Chiefs games, but I don't watch hardly any other games anymore, and I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to just quitting altogether. Same stages that my video game addiction went through. In a way it's kind of sad, like I've lost a long-time friend.

You're a ****ing moron

Goodell isn't running anything

He does what he told, the most you can get pissed at him about is the inconsistency of the handling of the rules. Even that is influenced by outside forces.

You have the NFLPA ****ing with everything they can and you have the owners who are looking at everything from a money perspective.

fyi they have paid out on players safety SEVERAL times and the NFLPA wants to triple,quadruple dip. They will never stop asking for more even as they try to block safety rules and implementation.

I can't remember how long ago it was..but Jimmy Raye said in 20 years, the NFL would be dead.

I don't watch as much as I nearly did. It's blatantly obvious they favor certain teams. OPI and DPI happen on every play, blatant holding happens every play....Hali used to get held on a consistant basis. It's the fallback to determine games, or take away big plays.

Money , IMO, has corrupted the game.

And it bums me out..I've loved football since I played as a kid.

....with each passing year it just all seems scripted and contrived.

:shake: :(

Yea wait till the "eye test" ****s Kansas City. SAME people are gonna want replay back

Goodell wants you to use your childlike wonder and believe ! Believe 2 mins, believe believe -DT

Goodell's not the reason for three Prime Time games each week nor the over-exposure on networks like ESPN and Fox Sports 1. Goodell's not the reason for games in London or Mexico or China. Goodell's not responsible for franchises holding municipalities hostage for Billion dollar stadiums.

That's all on the owners.

What Goodell IS responsible for is the hiring, firing, training and teaching of the referees. He's responsible for disciplining players and teams for breaking rules. He's responsible for player safety and for making the game fun.

In those terms, Goodell has failed miserably.

I was a real NFL fan. I did stop watching because of the protests. Not because of 1 guy protesting, but because of the multiple people protesting and the NFLs hypocrisy by not putting a stop to it. When a player can sit during the anthem and not be fined or suspended, yet another player can be suspended for tweeting "ewww gross" when he sees two men kissing, I'm out.

I've got no problem with the suspension for the "ewww gross" tweet. What a player says reflects on the league. I do have a problem when the NFL says that people who sit during the anthem are just "expressing their first amendment right", so they do nothing. The "ewww gross" guy had a first amendment right also.

I've been a huge NFL fan since I was a teenager. I haven't watched a game in several weeks. I'm done. My wife sure is happy about it though.

You're not allowed to hop back on the bandwagon buddy when Reid leads us to the promise land

If you're "done" then what are you doing posting about the team on an internet forum?

Does posting here help the NFL's ratings?

I have no doubt the Chiefs will go to the Superbowl this year. That's just the way my life works. You guys can thank me for it later.

Polls say Kaepernick is the main reason. It's really a hoot watching everyone on this thread desperate to dance around this issue, when its being told straight to your face by opinion pollsters asking actual folks.

Supplanting?

I think you mean 'supplement', not supplanting.

In no case ever has short passes replaced running the ball, and the run pass ratio over the past 25 year has not become less pass happy.

Joe Montana was not throwing the ball 50 times per game.

Yes, because 30 years ago, football was played in its natural state the same way it had been played for thousands of years going back to hunter/gatherer societies in the fertile crescent.

:Poke:

Of course the freaking rules are arbitrary. It's just a game. I don't think it is unreasonable to tweak the rules from time to time. I think the balance on whole is reasonable. I wouldn't object if it was tilted back a little more to the defense but whatever.

But this idea that the refs can just stop throwing flags and the game will speed up. No. Maybe for a game or two but DBs and Offensive lineman (for just two examples) will just grab and hold, more and more until the refs start throwing flags again. Yes, you want them to be consistent and fair. But I think the too many flags argument is a non-starter.