I can’t agree with you Jeff on this one. If the NFL wants to charge $200 to watch the game on the TV outside and people wish to spend it who is being hurt? No one forced them to go and pay the $200. Now the other things you mentioned about DeMaurice Smith using it in the negotiations, and the NFL concerns about player safety while wanting an 18 game season is another matter.
I agree with Mike. If people want to buy $200 tickets to watch football on tv in a parking lot, so be it. It would be nice if that money went to charity, but lets be real. The NFL is a BILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS. The league’s main goal is to make money.
I always hear that it people are willing to pay for it comment. It doesn’t make it right. There is no underestimating the gullibility of the American Public. I wonder if they do something like that the World Cup. I guess it is just the American way to get every buck you can out of the public.
One of the things that makes sports an important part of American culture is their link to particular seasons. With the schedule getting longer football isn’t the sport of fall anymore, its the never-ending sport we might just get sick of.
The existing labor deal, in which the players (the ones people pay to see) split up a reasonable share of total revenues, is fair. I believe that what is driving the owners toward this confrontation is the desire to get more and more.
Perhaps there is no more from the fans, no more from the networks. Perhaps, in the short run, there is less, due to the need to pay off new stadia and the recession. But they still want more, so they are going after the players.
But the real dark corner into which their greed might take them is to put all the games on pay per view. NFL games are so expensive that for most fans television is the only link to their teams. Going to a game would break the bank.
Start charging for TV too, and the next generation of fans (and younger generations are and will be poorer on average in this country by the way) will lose that link to their teams. Generational changes in habits take a long time, but once they get going they can be hard to reverse.
I can’t agree with you Jeff on this one. If the NFL wants to charge $200 to watch the game on the TV outside and people wish to spend it who is being hurt? No one forced them to go and pay the $200. Now the other things you mentioned about DeMaurice Smith using it in the negotiations, and the NFL concerns about player safety while wanting an 18 game season is another matter.
Mike, I just think—if you’re gonna do it, donate the money to charity and make it something worthwhile.
I agree with Mike. If people want to buy $200 tickets to watch football on tv in a parking lot, so be it. It would be nice if that money went to charity, but lets be real. The NFL is a BILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS. The league’s main goal is to make money.
I always hear that it people are willing to pay for it comment. It doesn’t make it right. There is no underestimating the gullibility of the American Public. I wonder if they do something like that the World Cup. I guess it is just the American way to get every buck you can out of the public.
The NFL is playing with fire.
One of the things that makes sports an important part of American culture is their link to particular seasons. With the schedule getting longer football isn’t the sport of fall anymore, its the never-ending sport we might just get sick of.
The existing labor deal, in which the players (the ones people pay to see) split up a reasonable share of total revenues, is fair. I believe that what is driving the owners toward this confrontation is the desire to get more and more.
Perhaps there is no more from the fans, no more from the networks. Perhaps, in the short run, there is less, due to the need to pay off new stadia and the recession. But they still want more, so they are going after the players.
But the real dark corner into which their greed might take them is to put all the games on pay per view. NFL games are so expensive that for most fans television is the only link to their teams. Going to a game would break the bank.
Start charging for TV too, and the next generation of fans (and younger generations are and will be poorer on average in this country by the way) will lose that link to their teams. Generational changes in habits take a long time, but once they get going they can be hard to reverse.
Not long ago, boxing was a big deal too.