Roger Goodell was about as genuine as a sleazy real estate agent in answering questions about the future of the league, but we at Juiced Sports are not afraid to give our two cents (but only as long as it doesn’t go to the owners)

SCOTT JACOBS

The world is supposed to end in 2012, but 2011 may see a crippling lockout for the NFL.  While I understand it’s not the NHL and that football is this country’s most popular sport (for now), the NFL is not immune from fading back to the pack if they ignorantly let this issue lead to a work stoppage in 2011.  The NFL is treading dangerous water here.  Yes, people love the NFL, and yes, watching the NFL on a week to week basis is unlike anything else in pro sports, but with the current economic state of this country the last thing people want to see (especially the middle class) is owners whining over not making enough money, and players complaining that the millions of dollars they make is not enough to feed their families.

It’s one of many critical issues the NFL is facing.  Also on the NFL’s potential agenda is an expanded regular season, relocation or possibly expansion, the NFL changing the Lombardi Trophy each year to be more regionalized (this was revealed yesterday), and the NFL playing more and more games overseas.  Let’s get to the issues.  It’s Juiced Sports’ first ever NFL State of the Union.

The NFL cannot afford a lockout.  I’m not talking about dollars and cents.  I’m talking about credibility.  People are sick and tired of these greedy owners and overpaid players making millions of dollars while they live off paycheck to paycheck.  Quotes (and I paraphrase) like “don’t go out and buy any fancy toys, spend your money wisely” is not going to buy the players any sympathy from the fans.  Many fans struggle to afford to watch their favorite teams live– and with the NFL’s blackout policy– still poney up the money to go.  You really think they want to hear that superstar player X can only afford to buy one yacht and one supped up sports car this season instead of two?  Uh, no.

The other problem with a potential lockout is this: that the NFL owners would stand to collectively gain 5 billion dollars if there was no football played in 2011.  Does that not make you sick?  How could the TV networks possibly agree to something like that?  Now it’s my understanding that if the NFL lost a year because of a lockout, they would basically just reimburse the networks by adding another year to their contract without upping the fee.  Something like that is what I’ve heard.

Before we even get to a potential lockout there is the issue of an uncapped year looming in 2010.  Supposedly a soft deadline is in place that if the owners and players cannot agree to a new CBA before March 1st, that their will be no salary cap in football this upcoming season.  Talk about a death blow to the NFL’s competitive balance.  You want to talk about a league that simply cannot afford to not have a cap– talk about the NFL.  What makes the NFL so exciting is the turnarounds that teams make from year to year.  If teams like Dallas could just spend as much money as they pleased to obtain the best players possible, well that would mutilate the gap between the elite and the horrific.  When a team like the 1-15 Dolphins of 2007 can turn around and win 11 games the following year that is because the NFL’s system in place encourages turnarounds from one year to the next.

Players have trouble getting out of bed after some games, many have major health issues after their careers are over and we want to add another two games?  Huh?

What makes the NFL so interesting is that from year to year the teams that make the playoffs are almost 50% different than the year before.  New Orleans is in the Super Bowl, last year they didn’t make the playoffs.  Last year Arizona, Atlanta, and Miami all made the playoffs after being afterthoughts the year before, and the Cardinals even got to the Super Bowl.  The point is this: if high spending owners lkike Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder start running the league in an uncapped system we’re looking at football’s version of the AL East.  That kind of disparity would kill teams like the Jaguars, who were in the playoff race nearly the entire year, but economically could never compete with deeper pocketed teams.

An 18 game season is freaking stupid!  Why you ask?  The better question is why not?

We want to make the game safer, yet we want to add two more games to an already injury riddled season.  Players have trouble getting out of bed after some games, many have major health issues after their careers are over and we want to add another two games?  Huh?

But there’s more than just that.  The disparity between the great teams and the rest of the teams would only grow bigger.  Take the Colts for instance.  Could you imagine if they clinched homefield throughout the playoffs and then had four games still left in the year?  What do they do, rest for a month and a half till the playoffs?  Yeah, fans are dying to see that.

As mentioned, more injuries come with more games.  The same guy willing to bust his hump despite his pains with a few games left in the year, may decide it’s just not worth it if there’s four plus games and he can barely feel his body. Don’t fix something that ain’t broken.  The NFL is trying to make this about the fans: but that’s bull and everyone knows it.  If the NFL wanted to make this about us, they’d cut a game off the preseason slate, keep the regular season at 16 and lessen the chance of a major injury in the preseason.  The NFL just wants to make more money.  That’s all this is about.  No one wants to see the NFL season get watered down.  Just like no one wants to see the NCAA Tournament go to 96 teams.  Money talks, what we want means jack didly.

If Goodell’s State of the Union was any indication the NFL already has it’s toe in Los Angeles, and it’s only a matter of time before they get an entire franchise there.  Goodell claims to care about the markets in St. Louis and Jacksonville, but you really think given how the NFL runs (money!) that he wouldn’t chomp at the bit to sacrifice a struggling forgotten franchise like the Rams or Jags for the glitz and glamour of LA?  And you don’t think, for that matter, that a prospective owner doesn’t have dollar signs in his eyes when envisioning that kind of possibility?

Bills fans, you can remain calm for now.  While Goodell likes the Toronto market that stadium needs a makeover for it to be viable for an entire season.  That means that for now, the Bills are safe where they belong, in Buffalo.  But my gut is that the NFL is looking for a way to get the Bills into Toronto, where they could attract a multi-cultural audience in a world class international city.  The NFL is trying to expand globally and Toronto is very close.  It’s the perfect guinea pig for the league.  That doesn’t, however, mean it would be unbelievably unfair to all the passionate and loyal Bills fans who bleed red and blue.

If you didn’t hear the bizarre news, the NFL is remaking the Super Bowl next year.  From here on out they will be going to a standardized generic logo system that gives the league some kind of lame continuity.  So instead of these unique and color abstract logos that we’ve had for, like 30 years, we will get logos like next year’s, with Jerry Jones’ stupid stadium as part of the logo.  Gag me.  What’s even more puzzling though is that the NFL plans to change the Lombardi trophy to have a more regionalized feel based on where the game is played.  It makes no sense whatsoever to me.  Let’s take the unique logos, and standardize them, and then let’s take the same trophy that’s been given out for decades, and change it each year to be unique.  What?

Is it me or does this Super Bowl lack the buzz of previous Big Games?  First off, while I enjoy watching Indy play, they have got to be the least exciting off the field team in the history of sports.  The Saints are a nice story and a fun team, but they don’t scream underdog at all to me.  My issue with them is they were so badly outplayed by the Vikings and that really, in all honesty they probably don’t belong here.  Freeney’s injury is a big story, but not an exciting one.  Neither coach is bold or brash (paging Rex Ryan), so the pre-hype has been a wash.

The solution: keep the Pro Bowl after the season (it was a success says Goodell.  Really?  Having a half empty stadium in the third quarter is a success?) and make the Super Bowl a week after championship Sunday.  Why?  Because we’re sick of the lull that the first week brings.  Nothing sucks the life out of an anticipated event like a dead week in between.  Football players are used to playing week to week, let them!  Plus, instead of coming out sharp, many teams start the Super Bowl out of sync. Momentum is so crucial to football, so why should the Super Bowl be any different?  I think it would add more buzz to the game, because the elapsed time would be so quick.

As for the overtime situation?  I think the solution is simple: each team has to have the ball in overtime for a game to be considered fair.  After that, it’s fair game.  Even if the defense got an interception that would mean both teams had the ball.  That’s all you want.  That’s all you need.  Plus, it could create exciting situations like a team opting to go for it on fourth and short instead of kicking a field goal.  If team X scores a field goal, and kicks off to team Y, knowing that team Y can win it with a TD that would make the game more exciting.  What makes this different from college? If one team scores a TD and the other team scores a TD, then it becomes sudden death.  The college system isn’t right for the NFL.  It would make for video game-esque numbers, which would inflate stats and really hurt the validity of records.

Thank you so much for your time.  We will now take any and all questions.

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