Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
I’m done with the NFL. At least for this season. If I were a man of higher principles, I’d be done with it for good.
The New Orleans loss to the Rams was the straw that broke my back. To essentially end a great season with such a blatant penalty that wasn’t even called is tough to take. And what’s going to come of that? Further delays to the game, as officials will now be allowed to second-guess their calls (and non-calls) on the field.
And now we’ve got to watch those cheatin’ Patriots, again, this year up against a franchise that’s moved around so much it’s hard to remember where they’re from anymore.
Meanwhile, the flyover fans between Boston and L.A. will be left disappointed.
And in case you haven’t noticed it, NFL games have become very, very long.
It’s brilliant, really, how the NFL, in cahoots with the television networks and their advertisers, has been able to stretch 60 minutes of actual play time into a three-plus hour production. The commenters will beat every play to death and the commercials will make you want to buy an overpriced pickup so you can haul in another load of junk food and beer at halftime.
But the fans won’t mind. It’s all great entertainment — the game, the broadcast team, the clever commercials — so they’ll put up with all sorts of nonsense just to see, over and over again, that one big play that made the difference.
Then there’s the NFL’s “trademark” protections for the name “Super Bowl,” “Super Sunday” and other variations of what we call a day that’s practically become a national holiday.
If you want to use it to promote your business — say, your pizza delivery business, beware: The NFL aggressively goes after the unauthorized use of its trademarks. So whatever you do, don’t call it a “Super Bowl special” because that can literally get you sued.
The NFL is a collection of multi-billion dollar franchises — there are 32 teams in this “trade association.” It was actually a “nonprofit” association until 2015, when public outrage over its tax-exempt status pressured Commissioner Roger Goodall to give up the “nonprofit” pretense. The controversy, he said, was too much of a distraction.
A distraction from making lots and lots money, he meant. Every time you see that trademark “NFL” emblem, you’re looking at a dollar sign for the NFL. Go online to the NFL Shop and you’ll be lucky to find a cap for under $25, jerseys for about $100 each.
Meanwhile, NFL game tickets average about $100, while one ticket to the Super Bowl is, this year, now costing over $2,500 for an end-zone seat in the nosebleed section. A seat at the 50-yard line goes costs a cool $9,000.
And that infamous primetime Super Bowl commercial? It’s up to about $5 million for a 30-second spot now. Gotta sell a lot of Doritos to make that one worthwhile — but, hey, I’m sure they do.
The NFL is one of those big-business entities that seem too big to fail. Imagine the economic and cultural catastrophe that would occur if we didn’t have our six months of professional football to watch. It’s like an addiction; we don’t control the NFL, the NFL controls us.
Tom McDonald is editor of the New Mexico Community News Exchange. Contact him at: