State of the NFL in about 5 years

[wizwor]

This feels like a discussion of the stock market. A few years ago, we were at the height of a meteoric rise and everyone thought there was no end to the NFL's success. Now, there has been a market correction and everyone thinks this is the end of the world. Everyone is wrong.

The economy has been slow for a decade. A lot of people have been without work or underemployed or in jobs with little or no pay increases. Times are tough. At the same time, entertainment has been enjoying a boom (this always happens during a recession). Movies, cable tv, and the NFL have all risen faster than inflation. So have food, education, taxes, and healthcare. People have cut where they can -- entertainment.

Something is going to give. We had an election that assured this. Healthcare is going to become less expensive. Less people are going to college. A lot of people are trimming or cutting their entertainment budget. That means less income for entertainment.

The NFL and ESPN have also gotten tangled in politics. In the current state of our union, this has pi$$ed off about half the country. Due to demographics, more than half of NFL fans feel this way.

This ship can be righted very easily because premium television providers and the NFL offer much better products than the competition. All they have to do is stop pi$$ing off their customers and cut prices. Both of these things are going to happen because these people are smart. They just have to work out the details. They are also smart enough to know that it would not be a terrible thing if things looked bleak going into contract negotiations. That is what I expect to happen -- a bottom, then favorable contracts, then a recovery.

I predict that the NFL will be a better product in five years.

 

[mosslost]

Yeah it will be very interesting to see how the NFL fares at the next CBA, not only is salary most likely going to be cut by a significant % but they have to get the marijauna violations suspensions out of the league. Guys are losing millions for smoking the safest recreational drug on the planet. Instead of taking hard pills for pain they can smoke weed which can help with the pain.

Cable subs will continue to drop so viewership on certain games will get lower and lower.

They might need to advertise on their jerseys.. I don't watch commercials and most of the peops that do have cable probably spend the extra 10 bucks for DVR which you can just fast forward through the commercials. If I am home I go on the gameday thread forum and read over reactionary sometimes funny, sometimes ludicrous statements, keeps me entertained while the commercials are running.

The NFL should still be king.. but have the rule changes made the game better over the last 10-12 years? I'm not so sure, they really need to access penalties and after every play down field WR' and Tight ends after every play are making the throw the flag hand gesture.\

And honestly let players celebrate however they friggen want to after scoring a TD as long as its not a delay of game. Obviously you have to draw the line somewhere like hiding cell phones in the goal post is crossing the line, but if 3 guys wanna dance and celebrate let them..

Taunting should be legal too

 

[mosslost]

The NFL is going to be hurt by trying to tinker with it too much. Sometimes you don't need to make a good thing better. Sometimes just leave well enough alone and be happy for the massive success you have.

I think the height of the NFL was the SB49 and not just cause the Pats won but cause it was a year when Ds could still play to an extent unlike 2015 when rule changes/reinforcements hurt them more and before the crusade to stop the Patriots at all cost made the NFL look stupid and fans lose trust. No one likes the owners/commissioner now and that is a problem.

As far as the guys on the field.... No doubt the game will be poorer after Brady leaves (he may be the last true elite pocket passer we ever see). However the guys on the field will not be an issue.

Rodgers will still be kicking around a bit. Carr, Mariota, Wilson, Prescott (maybe) JAG (maybe), Winston, Bortles (maybe), Wentz (maybe).

It is not like they don't have some potentially good young QBs coming up. It is just I don't trust the NFL to not screw it up even with that.

Yes I will still watch cause i love the game but I will always have in the back of my mind "the NFL isn't afraid to fix things if one team gets too good or "their guy" doesn't win.

nothing is rigged if that is what you mean

 

[mosslost]

The NFL ,as I and long time fans have known and loved it, died August 8th, 2006. We just didn't know it until recently. You've all been watching the WWFL the past ten years.

The NFL has been around for over 100 years and has changed many many times. I don't think it goes anywhere. It was even a more dangerous game back in the early 1900s. The NFL had 19 fatalities one season back then. They changed the rules a lot that off season.

 

[DaBronxPats14]

NFLPA next CBA has to address many issues. NUMBER ONE, goodell* CAN NOT be judge, jury, PATS'ecutioner and change rules to penalize players and teams as he deems fit.
But NFLPA will cave in and nothing will change and games will go on schedule as always.

 

[Joker]

Five years is a long time off. For the first time, it looks like the future may not be as good as the present or past. On fix that should be a no-brainer is hiring full-time refs. If eliminating the "dead space" and bad calls is that important, why didn't this already happen? The viewers that stay and watch the game should more than pay for the refs.

I don't know if such a thing can be devised, but if concussion-resistant equipment can be made, someone is going to get rich.

It's been scientifically proven through experimentation that no helmet of any kind, soft or hard, can stop the effect of a head shot delivered in football. The brain floats in a liquid cushion. When violently jarred the brain hits up against the side of the skull. Simple Newtonian physics. A helmet cannot negate FORCE applied. The NFL either lives with the inevitable head traumas and supports players post career with the CTE episodes or else it goes boom.

 

[RecoveringCowboy]

It's been scientifically proven through experimentation that no helmet of any kind, soft or hard, can stop the effect of a head shot delivered in football. The brain floats in a liquid cushion. When violently jarred the brain hits up against the side of the skull. Simple Newtonian physics. A helmet cannot negate FORCE applied. The NFL either lives with the inevitable head traumas and supports players post career with the CTE episodes or else it goes boom.

Yes, I was was dreaming. If over the past 50 years, car passengers are safer in a crash, I was hoping could figure something out. Honestly, I can't think of a practical way blows could be softened that much.

 

[deroc5050]

Every player is well aware of the risk they take when they step onto a football field. I am not sure how they can take care of players post career..If you play for more than 4 years you get some sort of health insurance through the NFL.. I have no idea. But if I was the NFL, every player would be required to sign a waiver and understanding full well the risk you take when you sign up for the NFL. Stating that playing Pro football it is possible that you can get Brain Damage, along with every other major injury.

Players knew back in the day, and know now full well the risk of playing football.

When you have a 250-60 pound tight end running a 4.6 40 thats like a car crash. The same goes for OLB guys are just bigger, stronger and faster and the collisions are just that much harder.

 

[upstater1]

Well if you honestly believe that, than I don't know how you could watch a game ever again.

The Giants D line utterly dominated us the entire game. Yeah on 4th down that was a hold I admit and pretty blatant but refs tend to swallow the whistles at the very ends of games. Even after Eli threw the ball it took a pretty amazing grab with Harrison clobbering David Tyree and somehow he holds the ball against his helmet as he is falling to the ground... I am not willing to say the fix is in. The Patriots didn't play well enough in the 07 super bowl.. they should have been up 2 possessions at the very least but the Giants D line all took PED's and Adderal before the game and were so jacked up.. they just decimated us.

And then the next super bowl all we needed was for Wes to hold on to the ball... And that was pretty much game.

Edit: dude last year Ghost missed the extra point.. Marcus Cannon was a friggen statue as von miller just ate him for breakfast all game. We had our chances.

I'm just going to add fuel to the fire here: that was not a safety on Brady (intentional grounding ) in the 2012 Super Bowl. No way. Even the announcer said it: "In all his years, he has never seen grounding called on a player for a 10 yard overthrow straight down the field."

 

[Nikolai]

Yes, I was was dreaming. If over the past 50 years, car passengers are safer in a crash, I was hoping could figure something out. Honestly, I can't think of a practical way blows could be softened that much.

Soft helmets. I guarantee people will be less giddy about spearing someone in the head if they didn't have a high tech cage around their head to help out.

I say the same thing about hockey...get rid of the high tech super rigid padding and things will change.

 

[RecoveringCowboy]

Soft helmets. I guarantee people will be less giddy about spearing someone in the head if they didn't have a high tech cage around their head to help out.

I say the same thing about hockey...get rid of the high tech super rigid padding and things will change.

Pardon my tangent, but that's exactly why automotive fatalities have not gone down - drivers feel so safe they don't pay attention to what they are doing. US fatalities down from 60,000 in 1970 to 35,000 or less today after about ten safety feature I could list. If people did not feel so safe, they would drive safer.