Posted on 04/26/2024 6:39:53 AM PDT by Starman417
I learned a few days ago that tonight is the start of the NFL Draft. For many years this date was marked on my calendar months out, and today I don't even now in which city it will be held. That was then; this is now.
It's hard to believe that it's been almost four years since I got tired of being insulted by the NFL and walked away from decades of fandom. Then two years later the league was kind enough to offer several reasons to affirm my decision. So now we check in at 2024, and the league is going to improve play by... having the referees throw more penalty flags for... (checks notes) tackling? Yes, it looks like the NFL is doing all that it can to alienate the kind of fans who turned the league into an empire. And yet, with all of these bad moves in the last few years, the league is getting more viewers than ever. Why? No, it's not thanks to Taylor Swift, although this has helped the league in the all important 13 year old girl demographic. The answer is far simpler: gambling.
For those unfamiliar, fantasy football (FF) is a game that allows a group of friends (or strangers) to pick various players for their fantasy team and compete based on how those player perform each week. Although FF has been around since the 1980s, it really took off around Y2K with the rise of the internet - the perfect tool for tracking and communicating in real time. But the NFL's Great Leap Forward in popularity had its roots in the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. Short explanation: a law written to regulate online gambling left a carveout for fantasy sports. Fast forward a few years and outfits like Draft Kings launched fantasy based sports gambling. It didn't take long to jump from professional sports leagues giving a coy wink and nod to the notion of gambling, punishing the occasional player who got caught up in it (for which Philadelphia Phillies great Pete Rose has become the poster child) to where now the NHL and NFL have franchises in Las Vegas.
I won't recap the legacy of Colon Kaepernick and the BLM protests, but viewership took a dip as a result of the NFL endorsing the Marxists. The league dialed back glorifying them, but never left it behind. They continue to sing the "Black National Anthem" before certain games (while not answering the question of where that "nation" resides), while continuing to plaster Marxist slogans in their end zones. Many forgave and returned, and I'm not among them. As a result of openly embracing gambling, the league found a way to replace the fans who loved the game with fans of gambling on the game. It was while watching this video from the always great Jason Whitlock that I finally pieced together that the changes that the league has been making over the last few years (I read the occasional news story on the league and my Eagles fandom rubbed off onto Sister Babe and she regularly watches their games when they broadcast here) have been all in the name of expanding gambling tied viewership. Hell, Commissioner Goodell has gotten arrogant enough to not unequivocally rule out ever having the Super Bowl in London. As the post concluded, "Probably, but only when the money is right".
The NFL has set itself up quite well for short term gain, but long term ruin.
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...
Wait, what?
No no no no.
If that were the case, he would have been known for the quote, "I'd run through town in a gasoline suite to play baseball."
Myself being a life-long Bears fan (what a great rivalry it’s been over the years)
I’m not yet ready to give up on the Bears, but now they are planning a new multi billion dollar Colosseum that the Romans would envy, I’m wondering how much it’s going to cost US, the Illinois taxpayers. I do envy the Packers’ organization.
They’ve definitely got it together, and you, the Fans, have something to be really proud of.
Every year it seems I lose a little more respect for the Bears organization.
George Halas, where are you?
At least I have my memories of seasons past.
My hub did a couple years ago!
I've read comments on social media, many fans agreed with me.
Congrats. You’re about 15 years behind me. I lost interest and walked away 20 years ago after being a bigger NFL than college fan as a kid.
Nor am I.
Pete Rose was banned for life. What if he did it as a player at the top of his game? One year at most. I think MLB baseball was behind Otani’s fall guy.
What if a top player bets a nickel on his own team and calls on an opposing player to take him on? I’d bet they’d be too scared. It’s control.
Sadly, true.
NFL? Meh, who cares anymore?
I stopped watching the MFL back in the mid 80s. Too many millionaire showboats. Now that they’ve come up with the MFL Players of Color National Anthem, there is no way I would ever go back to watching the Planation house boyz.
And it took this many posts for someone to point that out.
I don’t watch or any major league sports anymore.
It’s College Football that is really dead and not coming back.
I see now that Reggie Bush got his Heisman back.
I think somebody called the Lions’ locker room at halftime of the NFCCG and told them they would “Feel A Slight Sting” during the Second Half.
I stop watching and even caring about the NHL when they let their employees:
-while at a company event
-while in company uniform
-while being paid from company funds
Disrespect the American flag and by extension, my service to that flag. Haven’t watched a game since.
I like to support our local team and keep track of them, but I have found the time needed to watch a game increasingly burdensome.
3.5 hours, most of that to watch repeated commercials of mass-market garbage, produced with low-brow culture.
After sitting in front of a TV for so long, I feel a bit hung-over and unhealthy.
Well, the Draft was held in Detroit yesterday (I didn't know, either) and set an all-time attendance record. So somebody still cares.
https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/04/26/nfl-draft-detroit-atmosphere
Draft sets single-day attendance record in Detroit
The first night of the NFL Draft was a hit in Detroit, as the NFL reported a single-day attendance record of 275,000 fans while police officials estimated the turnout at 400,000. Driving "was an ordeal and parking a fantasy." Entire streets were "cordoned off and turned into tailgates." The crush of people was "so thick that pedestrians were allowed to walk in only one direction on some streets." Visitors wearing "a kaleidoscope of colors representing seemingly every NFL team" roamed from the draft theater in Campus Martius to an entertainment zone at Hart Plaza to a players' red carpet at the Fox Theatre. Detroit's NFL Draft footprint "hit maximum capacity" around 6:30pm yesterday, "prompting officials to shut off entry for the rest of the evening and causing some fans to try to go around police"
(DETROIT NEWS, 4/26).
NHL. ?
….
275 thousand people “attended” the first day of the draft. The NFL is fine, they don’t miss you.
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