The only good thing that can happen from Monday’s Packers/Seahawks outcome and the aftermath that followed, would be for the NFL and its locked out officials to work out their differences and get back on the field sooner than later. Everything else matters little.
Fans picketing at Lambeau Field early Tuesday morning, players tweeting their displeasure with insults pointed in the direction of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and even Green Bay’s Mayor sending a letter to Goodell, it all means very little.
I’m hearing about fans forming boycotts of the games this weekend to make their point. That could raise an eyebrow from the commissioner if those fans actually hold tickets to games and stay away. Do I think that’s actually going to happen? No. I think fans that have invested in tickets won’t be able to help themselves. They’ll show up at the stadium on game day and cheer for the home team just like every other week.
The NFL doesn’t care about the fans. Heck, they don’t even care about the players. They care about the bottom line only and that bottom line is suggesting that they not cave in their negotiations with the real officials. If that means blown calls and games that could be decided by officials, then so be it.
Players like T.J. Lang feel the league won’t take the situation seriously unless more players speak up. That may be true. But I’d recommend a few less
f-bombs and a few less direct insults towards the guy that runs the league. If you think Roger Goodell isn’t listening now, you’re not going to make him listen with vulgar language.
By the way, where were the players when the league first locked out the real officials? When the shoe was on the other foot and the players were locked out, they were looking for support from others. Under the current scenario, players didn’t start showing concern until the officiating product on the field became so horrendous, it was beginning to affect the games.
Green Bay mayor Jim Schmidtt sending a letter to the Commissioner is comical. I bet Roger Goodell is shaking in his boots over that one. He’s sticking up for his city and the team that plays there. But he’s already, after just 3 weeks, worrying about the economic impact for area businesses if the Packers don’t host a home game in the playoffs.
Isn’t this a little premature? Where is the faith in your team?
It would be great if Roger Goodell would get off the stick and do the right thing. The games are definitely getting hard to watch. But the NFL is a bottom line business. The only thing that’s going to speed up the process, unless of course the officials cave in, is if the NFL’s bottom line is effected.
Would the players walkout until the league settles this issue? Would the fans stay away from the stadiums? Sure the tickets are already purchased, but parking, concessions and merchandise sales would all take a hit. Would enough people stop watching the game every week? No, No and No.
We’re all hypocrites here. We all want something, but we’re not willing to really do what’s necessary to make it happen.
Rich says
This shows clearly that the NFL isn’t about sports or sportsmanship, it’s about money. Teams aren’t teams, they’re brands in the complex marketing relationship between the networks and the owners. The owners might hang in there until every fan realizes that, and then they’d be cooking their own Thanksgiving goose. The perverse side of me hopes they do. Then we could find a new national past time, until greed ruins that.