The State of the NFL

     The National Football League is feeling pretty good about itself right now in the immediate afterglow of Super Bowl LI. A drama-filled game with the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history culminating with a masterful drive engineered by the New England Patriots and Tom Brady, the most hated team and player in the league (outside of New England). While the partisans of the Atlanta Falcons wonder what happened and team owner Arthur Blank seemed mortified while he watched from the sidelines in disbelief that he was not going to receive the Lombardi Trophy given to the winning team after trekking down from the joyous luxury box the owners sit in.

     Commissioner Roger Goodell, who in an obviously rehearsed answer, had weathered the media storm from the New England media earlier in the week about his decision in Deflategate, the probe of under inflated game footballs which led to Brady's suspension of 4 games to start the season. So there he was, merrily shaking Tom's hand after the epic game, as if nothing had happened, then presenting the trophy to owner Robert Kraft while being soundly booed by the Pats fans. The first words out of Kraft's mouth were a vilification of Goodell by a powerful force withing the League's cabal of millionaires for the Commissioner's seemingly unfair role in protecting the integrity of the game. It was great theater, if not somewhat awkwardly absurd. Those who wanted to see how the scene would play itself out were not at all disappointed.

     The NFL triumphantly struck gold (again) in Houston in 2017. More than 100 million people in the United States viewed the game on FOX. The halftime show, starring the incredibly talented Lady Gaga, symbolically opened the second act of this game when the roof on NRG Stadium was parted exclusively for her widely-anticipated extravaganza. While enriching the Harris County economy with this game, the advertisers and networks made a bundle for their coffers, too. Nationally, food emporiums--from sub and pizza shops to restaurants and markets--thrive on this day. Then there is the ton of legal (in Nevada anyway) and illegal betting (in the form of pools at parties and in offices). Not to mention, most of all, the windfall that the NFL itself garners as part of this American ritual.

     From its humble roots in the Los Angeles Coliseum, the ancient temporary Olympic home for the transplanted Los Angeles (nee St. Louis) Rams, where the first Super Bowl was held before a sizable but certainly not sold out venue, the NFL has tirelessly marketed themselves into the multi-billion dollar institution through the celebration of its championship as a national holiday. The other 30 owners of franchises in various cities joined the league for exactly this--to make even more money in a closed corporation akin to a country club for rich people  where football, not golf or tennis, is played for high returns.

     Make no mistake--from its tax-exempt status to its tie ins with the United Way to its licensing agreements which are rigidly enforced--the NFL is a capitalist's dream. Captained by Goodell as the highly-compensated corporate head, the sixth commissioner of the league since its inception, the motives of the NFL are singular in its pursuits--to make money while promoting itself to the rabid fan base and, on Super Bowl Sunday, the more casual observer. Very few people do not know who Tom Brady, or for that matter his supermodel wife, or that he allegedly conspired to deflate footballs and received punishment outside of a courtroom for his dastardly deeds. That was ongoing, voyeuristic national news.

     No, this is a corporate giant immune to anti-trust laws because of its legal status and the need for cities and states to ingratiate themselves to the league in the form of subsidies for stadiums with luxury suites and low rents, thus allowing the teams to further profit, while burdening the populace with the cost of building these monuments and the transportation infrastructure needed to move 70-80,000 people on game day. Sure, there are jobs that are related to the day of the game and the teams, but overall, the profits enriching tax coffers pale in comparison to those generated by the NFL teams.

     I do not blame the owners of any sports team in any league for trying to make as much money as they can. The NFL epitomizes this aspect in all its glory. It is first and foremost a business.

     But with all the merchandising money and the immortalizing its great players for their efforts as demonstrated by the announcement of 7 new members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday night (including Jerry Jones, the bombastic owner of the richest franchise in professional sports, the Dallas Cowboys), plus the constant media presence on its own network  and ESPN, to being the lead story on all broadcasts last night, the NFL faces serious problems in the near future.

     Football is a violent sport. Seemingly the masses of this country are in love with violence. Look at the multitude of commercials for the Super Bowl that touted violent behavior. Or the FOX merchandised transformer man who was a metaphor for the powerful nature of the sport. This is a nation which has glorified Mixed Martial Arts and persona like Rhonda Rousey, who pummel each other into submission with devastating kicks and utilizing gloves that even boxing does not use. People go to NASCAR for the crashes, not necessarily the thrill of the race. Hockey fights are still cheered vociferously.

     Nowhere is aggressive physical contact with the disregard of safety more evident that in football. And nowhere is it more aggressive than in the NFL. The artistry of throwing and catching a football is offset by the combativeness of running and being tackled or fighting an opponent for a pass. These are big, strong men in protective gear trying to knock each other out of the game through collision after collision.

     It takes a rough mentality of a person who understands and accepts these conditions, in this case, for significant pay. Which is why the sport is so beset with domestic violence--the psychology of such actions are a direct correlation to the nature of the game. We look at Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson and Josh Brown, the kicker for the New York Giants--all with varying degrees of unfathomable behavior.  Moreover, how many players or former players have been murdered or been involved with a murder---former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez  comes to mind here, as does the iconic O.J. Simpson.

     It is hard to say if this is a microcosm of society as a whole. While race may be pointed to as a factor, it is a nullity, for the vast majority of fans are white and they riot and act out at political rallies in unacceptable ways. Again, I point out the vast number of science-fiction action commercials during the game.

     The NFL reacts to this, as they do with every violent or drug-related action-after the fact as a sort of self-policing, above the law unit. On the field offenses are penalized and can come with suspensions and fines also being imposed.  The New Orleans Saints had a system in place a couple of years ago whereby defensive players were rewarded for violent hits. The head coach was suspended as well as the defensive coordinator, but both are still employed in the NFL. Yet Ray Rice became the poster boy for domestic abuse throughout the NFL--a pariah who still should be playing football despite having atoned and made the necessary amends to society for his actions.

     It is a flawed system which desperately needs to be revamped, except it never will be.  With the money that pro football accesses, coupled with the public's requirement for head bashing, even with the concussion protocol  in place--with rules that have been enforced and selectively overlooked in a venue which fought clinical studies about the nature of head trauma in the sport notwithstanding the overwhelming numbers of former players who have died prematurely as a result of dementia from their head injuries.

     Let the NFL run a campaign for showing us how tackling at Dartmouth College is so much more refined at less likely to cause injury--I surely did not see that on display by either sides defenders. Let them show us how artificial fields are better constructed and safer--except when behemoths are involved. Legs and joints can only withstand so much torsion. Rhetorically--how many cripples are there among the NFL alumni? No contest here--the game is what it is--a violent sport which almost was paradoxically disbanded in the early 20th century because it once was too ferociously played.

    This aspect is obviously accepted by so many people given the popularity of the sport. The rush to build new temples to worship these players beating up on each other is at a crossroads. Three venerable franchises have sought to relocate because they could not reach agreements with state and local politicians or in the case of San Diego win a 60% majority on a referendum for a new edifice. The fans in St. Louis--who willingly accepted the Cardinals from Chicago before they abandoned the city for greener pastures in the desert of Arizona, only to accept the Rams when they fled Los Angeles/Anaheim because Southern Californians didn't flock to their home games--cried foul when the Rams owner took off for his own self-financed complex in Inglewood  and his team became the Los Angeles Rams reincarnated.

     San Diego's team, the Chargers, is "reluctantly" leaving to share the Rams fine new building when it is ready as a co-tenant because the citizens of San Diego did not wish to underwrite billionaires. Oakland and the Raiders, a team who split from Oakland for L.A. only to return to Oakland with a renovated building which now they can no longer find any comfort (luxury suites and amenities), is now seeking to land in the comfort of Las Vegas, seduced by a new stadium financed in part by billionaire gambling magnate Sheldon Adelson, Clark County and the State of Nevada. Except that underwriter, Goldman Sachs, a dubious financial institution itself, is no longer interested in the venture, nor is Adelson. Nor was the ever virtuous NFL seeking gambler involvement from the likes of the politically-involved activist and casino owner.  Which leaves the Oakland franchise in a quandary, even though, in an odd ironic twist, the San Diego mayor would welcome the Raiders to the Chargers old stadium and then see what develops.

     Plus the NFL still maintains a global interest, with ideas of playing more games in Mexico and England, taking some of the weaker franchises in terms of attendance and plunking them in a foreign country to enhance the NFL's marketability. Ergo, more games are available nationally through Thursday Night Football, so that games are seen all day Sunday, Monday night and Thursday night along with Saturdays once the college football season has morphed into bowl games. Then there is live streaming which involves Google, You Tube, Twitter and Facebook.  The games can be seen virtually everywhere.

     While the NFL seems to be in good shape, there are numerous cracks in its foundation. Right now there is peace with the NFL Players Association. At some juncture the NFLPA will be seeking a greater piece of the revenue pie, which could lead to a strike, something that dreadfully hurt the NFL previously in the eyes of the public.

     No, the NFL is not breaking apart like the Humpty Dumpty commercial for TurboTax. They have not fallen off the wall of their own doing. Nonetheless, the stressors are there and the fault lines could become more pronounced.

     Until then, the National Football League will chug along its merry, money-making way. With all the turmoil and chaos surrounding the product itself, the honchos at the NFL still find a way to put on a game for the ages.

     I am certain that the vast majority of people were not talking about anything else but Super Bowl LI in some form on the day after the game. Therein lies the state of the National Football League circa 2017.