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Here's what I sort of expect to happen. Sort of. Not really. And it's the opposite of what I want to happen, of course. But couldn't you just see it?
One caveat, this is me being a stupid fan. This might look very quaint by the end of tomorrow night.
That said, here it is: We win another Super Bowl. In the 2018 off-season, Goodell is forced to send a League* memo regarding a new policy:
And that's exactly how I've felt about the League*'s treatment of the Patriots these last few years.
Here's hoping that the League* has one more reason to consider such an offseason memo this February
One caveat, this is me being a stupid fan. This might look very quaint by the end of tomorrow night.
That said, here it is: We win another Super Bowl. In the 2018 off-season, Goodell is forced to send a League* memo regarding a new policy:
The intent of the combined effects of a salary cap and free agency is to provide a level playing field for all 32 teams in the National Football League, to create and preserve a competitive balance in which it is possible for any of the 32 in any given year to reach the playoffs, and having done so, to play in and win the Super Bowl.
This policy, if successful, should create a fan experience that maximizes the NFL's revenue. The League has tried in various ways to enforce this policy. It has changed the rules to advantage certain systems, to the detriment of one particularly successful system. It has studiously enforced any league rule that disadvantages the most successful team in this era, without any concern for the same rule regarding other teams, to blunt any further advantage this franchise might realize from its draft picks. It has gone so far as to penalize alleged infractions without evidence to further bring this franchise in line with league goals.
However, the franchise in question remains uncooperative. One franchise of the 32 has gone to 3/4 of its conference championships and appeared in 1/2 of the Super Bowls played since 2001. Of the 8 Super Bowls in which it played, this team has won 6.
The National Football League has reached the inevitable conclusion: This team, the New England Patriots, has gained an unmistakable competitive advantage that is so persistent and so pronounced that it can only be called unfair simply by virtue of the results that the franchise achieved.
In the coming months, the NFL will announce a plan for the dissolution of the New England Patriots as currently constituted. Measures under consideration include mandatory retirement of NFL players upon reaching the age of 40; Mandatory retirement of any head coach named Bill Belichick, regardless of which Bill Belichick it is or what team he coaches; and redistribution of all New England coaching and player staff, with subsequent treatment of this franchise as an expansion team, and expansion draft rules to be subsequently distributed.
Okay, I'd be enraged to see this. But a little flattered at the same time.This policy, if successful, should create a fan experience that maximizes the NFL's revenue. The League has tried in various ways to enforce this policy. It has changed the rules to advantage certain systems, to the detriment of one particularly successful system. It has studiously enforced any league rule that disadvantages the most successful team in this era, without any concern for the same rule regarding other teams, to blunt any further advantage this franchise might realize from its draft picks. It has gone so far as to penalize alleged infractions without evidence to further bring this franchise in line with league goals.
However, the franchise in question remains uncooperative. One franchise of the 32 has gone to 3/4 of its conference championships and appeared in 1/2 of the Super Bowls played since 2001. Of the 8 Super Bowls in which it played, this team has won 6.
The National Football League has reached the inevitable conclusion: This team, the New England Patriots, has gained an unmistakable competitive advantage that is so persistent and so pronounced that it can only be called unfair simply by virtue of the results that the franchise achieved.
In the coming months, the NFL will announce a plan for the dissolution of the New England Patriots as currently constituted. Measures under consideration include mandatory retirement of NFL players upon reaching the age of 40; Mandatory retirement of any head coach named Bill Belichick, regardless of which Bill Belichick it is or what team he coaches; and redistribution of all New England coaching and player staff, with subsequent treatment of this franchise as an expansion team, and expansion draft rules to be subsequently distributed.
And that's exactly how I've felt about the League*'s treatment of the Patriots these last few years.
Here's hoping that the League* has one more reason to consider such an offseason memo this February
