Lock Out was good for the NFL

[ausbacker]

OK, but remember that old Hollywood adage, there is no such thing as bad publicity. Ask any Kardashian... From the draft to the opening of TC there is never more talk or traffic than we've seen this season. In fact it was the lockout that kept the NFL atop the sportsworld's radar. The month from late June until TC opens was historically THE NFL dead zone. And now there will be more interest than ever in the weeks leading up to a season because all trade talks and FA signings and first glimpses of rookies will be occurring in a small 6-7 week window.

In fairness to the Kardashians they're notorious for 3 things;

1. Daddy gets OJ off,
2. Hippo sized arses, &
3. Being fame whores.

Most people have been waiting for the lock out to end so things can get back to "normal". The fact that the conditions this season will be condensed is what makes it exciting. Next year it won't make one iota of difference to anyone what happened in 2011.

 

[Ring 6]

In fairness to the Kardashians they're notorious for 3 things;

1. Daddy gets OJ off,
2. Hippo sized arses, &
3. Being fame whores.

Most people have been waiting for the lock out to end so things can get back to "normal". The fact that the conditions this season will be condensed is what makes it exciting. Next year it won't make one iota of difference to anyone what happened in 2011.

But the NFL attracts new fans every year. If the increased exposure and excitement enhances that number the product on the field will keep them.
That was really my point to begin with. More has happened to attract greater attention this year than ever, and the product will make fans out of many of the people that were attracted.

 

[ausbacker]

But the NFL attracts new fans every year. If the increased exposure and excitement enhances that number the product on the field will keep them.
That was really my point to begin with. More has happened to attract greater attention this year than ever, and the product will make fans out of many of the people that were attracted.

The NFL attracts new fans every year because it's a ******* awesome product.

 

[Ring 6]

The NFL attracts new fans every year because it's a ******* awesome product.

Agreed, Im just saying the lockout created additional exposure and will create additoinal FA excitement and that will allow it to attract more fans as well.

 

[ausbacker]

Agreed, Im just saying the lockout created additional exposure and will create additoinal FA excitement and that will allow it to attract more fans as well.

I'm not sure about the majority of your proposition but I do agree it has created a different and condensed type of excitement for the on-goings of free agency, training camp, rookie signings etc.

 

[Ring 6]

I'm not sure about the majority of your proposition but I do agree it has created a different and condensed type of excitement for the on-goings of free agency, training camp, rookie signings etc.

I guess that we will just have to agree to disagree that greater exposure, attention and excitement is good for a league.

 

[Wolfpack]

The Lock Out kept the NFL in the news all off season.
Now, they will compact months of Free Agency into a few furious days, and preseason games will start right after, putting more attention than ever on preseason games to assess all of the recent signings.
Discussion over which teams improved or declined and preseason predictions will also be condensed to a month and a half.
There will be more interest in Free Agency and in the preseason than ever before.
Ultimately, the lock out was a very positive thing for the league.

Thoughts?

The simple fact of the matter is that the majority of people who watch the NFL are casual fans and casual fans simply have not been affected by this lockout. The hardcore fans are still going to watch the preseason (despite all the whining and complaining over the past few months from people vowing the leave the NFL) and everybody's still going to watch the regular season.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

The Lock Out kept the NFL in the news all off season.
...
Ultimately, the lock out was a very positive thing for the league.

Thoughts?

Interesting perspective. Your post is worded carefully to refer to the benefits to "the league." So, I agree; if an audience is forced to look at a familiar presence through a different pair of glasses and if the resolution of what drew their attention in the first place is positive, its value will probably improve in their eyes.

The jury is clearly out on what this will mean for individual players and specific teams in terms of preparedness, etc., but that's not what you're addressing.

 

[townes]

I promise you that missing games was NOT part of their goal.... specifically missing the 9/11 games. There's absolutely no way missing those games was part of their thinking. Locking the players out of their comfort zone, showing that they were serious about the issues, cutting them off from health care, whatever else was. Missing games, losing money, creating REAL fan disgust was definitely not. But like you, Im just glad its all behind them, theyve ironed out their differences, and football is on its way.

I think they essentially had 2 goals, one was to put a ceiling on shared revenues because they knew the future TV deals are going to be absurdly rich, and the other was to get the courts out of the labor relationship. I think the owners believed the union was so fragile financially that they could crush it by missing the pre-season but that they were willing to miss real games if necessary and the Direct TV deal shows that they had serious plans in place to do just that. Ultimately the court cases moved much faster than they wanted and the players showed a real willingness to make serious concessions as long as there was no ceiling on shared revenues and this allowed the moderate owners to regain control of the negotiations and come to a good deal that benefits all. The owners got a good deal of what they wanted and the players didn't end up with a ceiling on shared revenues, and both sides ended up making real concessions that allowed it to get done. The rookie wage scale is a good example of this, the owners got a serious reduction in rookie salaries and they agreed to cut down the length of those deals, which had to be done to reach any fair agreement as you can't ask someone to take a big paycut and expect them to stay under contract to you as long as they would with the bigger deals.

Once the major issues on revenue sharing were agreed on it made no sense for either side to delay any longer as the costs to both far outweighed any benfit either would gain so it moved quickly from there to the point we are at now where it will almost certainly get done this week. Good enough.

 

[MossWelkowski]

Did I miss something? Did the lockout end without me knowing? It is still going on! Its not good unless its sign sealed and delivered BEFORE the preseason

 

[Triumph]

Negative publicity is better than no publicity.

There still would have been publicity x 32 teams.

FA, Franchise and RFA players getting new contracts, minicamps - the rookies shining or not. The casual fan has no idea what the cba is or what the hell the lockout is about except for that money is involved.

 

[borg]

Nothing gets more more fired up for football than:
1) Players and owners whackin up the pie
2) Eight figure QBs sueing because of the injustices that they face
3) Lockout arrests
4) Homophobic Tweets
5) NCAA scandals
6) a 2011 NFL product with months less practice.

The juices are flowing. I've got $40 in my hand, as we speak, ready to pay some parking. $10 Miller Lite cups.....I'll take 4.

 

[dhamz]

The resulting CBA and the changes with it will be the only real impact. Other than that the lockout goes down as a giant media driven non-event. It was 3 1/2 months of Peter King and Mike Florio screaming like hyenas about the impending doom in hopes of maintaining their own relevance and protecting their NBC TV paychecks. It was 3 1/2 months of Mike Silver, Ron Borges, Tom Curran and others pushing their own agendas about which side they wanted to win.

Casual fans paid little to no attention. They didn't win or lose any. Diehards fans were annoyed but they didn't lose any. It isn't going to further grow the game but it isn't going to stunt the growth that has been in motion for the past decade.

 

[BlueThunder]

Just get the CBA signed and let's get the rookies and players to TC...

Enough with the theatrics...

 

[Off The Grid]

I'm not sure about the majority of your proposition but I do agree it has created a different and condensed type of excitement for the on-goings of free agency, training camp, rookie signings etc.

I guess that we will just have to agree to disagree that greater exposure, attention and excitement is good for a league.

What's your problem??

The guy clearly made an effort to meet you half way, yet you respond with a snide-@$$ remark.

Not up to your usual standards, man.

 

[Off The Grid]

I don't know if the Lock Out was "good" or not, though it's certainly an intriguing angle on things.

What I DO know is good for FootBall, is that for the first time in YEARS, I'm not being ASSAULTED with the whining, simpering flatulation of FAVRE-GATE!! :rocker:

 

[Off The Grid]

Nothing gets more more fired up for football than:
1) Players and owners whackin up the pie
2) Eight figure QBs sueing because of the injustices that they face
3) Lockout arrests
4) Homophobic Tweets
5) NCAA scandals
6) a 2011 NFL product with months less practice.

The juices are flowing. I've got $40 in my hand, as we speak, ready to pay some parking. $10 Miller Lite cups.....I'll take 4.

For The Win!!!

:rocker:

 

[Wolfpack]

I guess that we will just have to agree to disagree that greater exposure, attention and excitement is good for a league.

Sure thing. In fact, I think baseball is planning out lockout this upcoming offseason because of how wonderful it is for the game and how much excitement it generates.

 

[lamafist]

These days, in Hollywood, the old adage has been amended to "there's no such thing as bad publicity... except when there is."

Scandal can be helpful for unknowns looking to put themselves on the public's map, but once you've got something of a profile and have built up your brand -- when you've got something to lose -- bad press is no longer your friend.

As far as the NFL goes, it really hasn't had a hard time staying in the news in recent off-seasons. The start of free agency is already a highly anticipated sports event, and lockout talk definitely took a lot of focus away from the draft. Seems to me that the lockout affected what was being said about the NFL more than it did how much was being said.

Nevertheless, I don't really expect the lockout to hurt the league in the long run, either. It looks like it's going to end pretty cleanly, and the news cycle moves awfully fast these days. I expect the accelerated free agency period will act as something of a palate cleanser, get fans thinking about football instead of labor politics again, and by the time pre-season roles around, we'll look back on the lockout like we do those couple of weeks when it seemed like we'd never talk about anything but Charlie Sheen, porn stars and suitcases full of blow ever again.

 

[Ring 6]

Sure thing. In fact, I think baseball is planning out lockout this upcoming offseason because of how wonderful it is for the game and how much excitement it generates.

OK, pal. Because, thats what I was saying, right?