NFL's Declining Viewership: One Slice at a Time

Ale Xander

Hamilton
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Oct 31, 2013
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So if you were the emperor of the NFL, how would you try to turn the ratings thing around?

My first moves would be to:

1) Change the pregame protocol so that players are in the locker room for the national anthem (impossible in real life for political reasons), and;
2) Simplify the catch rule so that there isn't a replay required for every catch/no-catch call
3) Loosen up the rules on pass defense so that PI and defensive holding aren't technically happening on every single play, and so that they are clearer to see/call when they do happen
4) Eliminate replay except during the last few minutes of a game, and make everything reviewable during that time
1) I would scrap the agreement with College Football for the weekend day monopoly, where one is on saturday and other is on sunday. Gradually add more games on saturday, start next year with allowing multiple college football games on labor day sunday afternoon (not just night) before the nfl season and nfl games on Army Navy saturday, and keep increasing the intermixing over time.

2) Reduce or eliminate the TNF games (other than first week of season). Perhaps move half of the weeks to Friday night as an experiment.

3) Eliminate SNF during the World Series week, and first week of the season, and possibly if the are any other weeks with a large competitor event (I don;t believe there are but could be wrong).

4) Be more consistent on holding call. i.e. call the ones that are most blatant and part of the play (yes there is holding of some sort on every play

5) Agree on reduce commercials. Maybe put a sponsor patch on a shoulder or something.

6) Eliminate network monopoly for in-market home team. (show 4 national network games every Sunday afternoon, not 2, not 3, but 4) This is easier to do if you eliminate TNF.

7) Generally, embrace the technological revolution.

8) Agree on the drugs

9) Longer suspensions for toolbags such as Greg Hardy and Ray Rice.

10) Get the calls right in the beginning so there are fewer instant replays.
 

Harry Hooper

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Probably be worth trying straight loss of down as the penalty for offensive holding. You didn't execute the play properly, you don't get another shot at it on the same down. On the other side of the ball, reduce the number of penalties that generate automatic first downs.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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One replay challenge per game per team. Penalty for lost challenge = loss of down for offensive challenge, first down for opponents for defensive. Leave callenge as safety valve to undo egregious fuckups that would alter the result, and not an arbitration hearing over a 3rd and 4 at midfield 4x/ game.
 

Blue Monkey

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One thing that's frustrating happened during the Patriots game in regards to the TV rights rules. In my market CBS left live action during the pats game to inform viewers that they were switching over to the Raiders game. That announcement was followed by 2-3 minutes of commercials. When they came back the raiders game was at the two minute warning and CBS went to more commercials. So there was probably a solid 6-8 minutes of just straight commercials with no action. I get that they want to go to a more competitive game but do so at a point when it makes sense. I will never get the NFL's TV rules... mind boggling
 

loshjott

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My earlier reply was too flippant. Whether or not I or anyone else agrees with the national anthem protests, I do not believe they have any bearing on viewership. I guess once the NBA season gets going in earnest we can compare, because NBA players are doing similar protests.

Any change in the anthem protocol would have much bigger media play and negative repercussions than the protests themselves, this I do believe. Goodell would be pilloried for blaming a relatively small number of African American players for the decline in popularity of his league, rather than concussions, bad reffing, suspension of the league's biggest star, etc. It would be a sh!tshow for Goodell, and he probably knows it.
 

tims4wins

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Jul 15, 2005
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One thing that's frustrating happened during the Patriots game in regards to the TV rights rules. In my market CBS left live action during the pats game to inform viewers that they were switching over to the Raiders game. That announcement was followed by 2-3 minutes of commercials. When they came back the raiders game was at the two minute warning and CBS went to more commercials. So there was probably a solid 6-8 minutes of just straight commercials with no action. I get that they want to go to a more competitive game but do so at a point when it makes sense. I will never get the NFL's TV rules... mind boggling
Not only this, I live out of market for the Pats, so I have Sunday Ticket. The game was on locally here, which means it is blacked out on the DirecTV Sunday Ticket channel. When CBS switched over, I changed the channel to the Sunday Ticket channel... but the game was still blacked out on that channel. So I couldn't watch the last however many minutes of the Pats game (well I watched it on the 4 game mix Sunday Ticket channel but the point stands)
 

mauf

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1) I would scrap the agreement with College Football for the weekend day monopoly, where one is on saturday and other is on sunday. Gradually add more games on saturday, start next year with allowing multiple college football games on labor day sunday afternoon (not just night) before the nfl season and nfl games on Army Navy saturday, and keep increasing the intermixing over time.

2) Reduce or eliminate the TNF games (other than first week of season). Perhaps move half of the weeks to Friday night as an experiment.

3) Eliminate SNF during the World Series week, and first week of the season, and possibly if the are any other weeks with a large competitor event (I don;t believe there are but could be wrong).

4) Be more consistent on holding call. i.e. call the ones that are most blatant and part of the play (yes there is holding of some sort on every play

5) Agree on reduce commercials. Maybe put a sponsor patch on a shoulder or something.

6) Eliminate network monopoly for in-market home team. (show 4 national network games every Sunday afternoon, not 2, not 3, but 4) This is easier to do if you eliminate TNF.

7) Generally, embrace the technological revolution.

8) Agree on the drugs

9) Longer suspensions for toolbags such as Greg Hardy and Ray Rice.

10) Get the calls right in the beginning so there are fewer instant replays.
I think the rest of us were answering the question based on what might realistically be feasible -- i.e., not unilaterally forgoing revenue or magically making officiating mistakes not happen.
 

mt8thsw9th

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Agree with you on the national anthem, except I don't think it's infeasible. Start the anthem 10 minutes earlier and combine it with some super-awesome tribute to the troops, or first responders, or whatever.
Or just get rid of it completely and allow fans to give thanks to their country however they see fit. Why is it necessary before every single game? I don't really care for the NFL's track record on honoring anyone, like their pay to play with troops, or the gimmicky pink stuff that doesn't actually raise any money for people with cancer.
 

Infield Infidel

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Replace Thursday Night Football with Tuesday night football, which would be done similarly to MNF. For teams playing Tuesday, the next week they would either get a bye, play Monday, or play Sunday against one of the two teams that played Monday the week before.

Scrap the Bert Emanuel catch rule. If the ball touches the ground, no catch. No gray area. Should reduce replays.

One foot in bounds is a catch, should reduce replays and help offense.

Players don't have to be down by contact. Would probably increase safety since fewer plays would have tackles. Also would reduce replays a little.
 

Joe D Reid

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Or just get rid of it completely and allow fans to give thanks to their country however they see fit. Why is it necessary before every single game? I don't really care for the NFL's track record on honoring anyone, like their pay to play with troops, or the gimmicky pink stuff that doesn't actually raise any money for people with cancer.
I recognize that this is getting pretty far into the intangible, but I do think that the NFL has suffered from mission creep.

They leaned into the military/"Football is Family"/football is America stuff extremely hard in order to build audience share. But they did it so well that football can no longer be just a sport where enormous athletic freaks pummel each other for our amusement. Now the NFL has to organize the game while protecting the shield AND the flag AND breasts AND victims of domestic abuse, etc. And it turns out that people who are good at organizing a sport where enormous athletic freaks pummel each other aren't necessarily real good at meaningfully deploying patriotic symbols or saving breasts or effectively addressing domestic violence etc.

The whole edifice has just gotten so obviously manipulative and unwieldy that it is less appealing (to me, at least).
 

budguy147

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1) Eliminate Thursday game
2) eliminate Sunday morning games in Europe
3) Allow players to have personalities
4) Eliminate the spot foul for Pass Inference
5) promote more college teams to utilize pro systems so as to have a better feeder for talent. 6) Raise the salary cap or create exemptions to allow for teams to keep franchise players
7) Get rid of extra commercials
8) Hire announcers and play by plays who understand the game and actually talk about it.
9) Be consistent in punishment and stop changing your mind after public outcry
10) Get rid of Goodell
 

Captaincoop

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I would love the idea of going to the college one-foot rule as a partial tradeoff for allowing more contact in the defensive secondary. Haven't heard that suggested anywhere else. Eliminate a bunch of flags, but take this step to mitigate the resulting loss of offense.

One thing I'm entirely sure of is that there are WAY too many penalties in these games. It really hit me during the game this weekend - which was almost unwatchable due to all the flags. On one sequence in the second quarter, the officials took away a huge first down from the Patriots due to a questionable offensive holding call in the defensive backfield, then awarded the Pats a first down on the next play due to defensive holding in the backfield. Just let the guys play.

On another note, I don't think expanding to more days of the week is a good idea. If anything, they should dial it back to just Sundays and Monday night. When NFL football is available all the time, it makes it easier to tune any given game out.
 

mauf

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Or just get rid of it completely and allow fans to give thanks to their country however they see fit. Why is it necessary before every single game? I don't really care for the NFL's track record on honoring anyone, like their pay to play with troops, or the gimmicky pink stuff that doesn't actually raise any money for people with cancer.
I'm not a fan of patriotic exercises before sporting events, but for better or worse, they're not going away.
 

jtn46

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Get MNF on a network, give it a crack at the best games, kill Thursday night football, Sunday morning football, Saturday night football. Make watching games on an app simple, and make it cheap or free, monetize ads there. Put regional blackouts in a 1,000 foot deep grave and never think about them again. Mix up the demographic doing analysis, white QB's in their 50's all have similar tired attitudes about proper celebration and going for it on 4th down. Helmet to knee should be severely punished, our favorite players missing a year and a half due to ACL tears sucks a lot. Fire Goodell.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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I recognize that this is getting pretty far into the intangible, but I do think that the NFL has suffered from mission creep.

They leaned into the military/"Football is Family"/football is America stuff extremely hard in order to build audience share. But they did it so well that football can no longer be just a sport where enormous athletic freaks pummel each other for our amusement. Now the NFL has to organize the game while protecting the shield AND the flag AND breasts AND victims of domestic abuse, etc. And it turns out that people who are good at organizing a sport where enormous athletic freaks pummel each other aren't necessarily real good at meaningfully deploying patriotic symbols or saving breasts or effectively addressing domestic violence etc.

The whole edifice has just gotten so obviously manipulative and unwieldy that it is less appealing (to me, at least).
Endorsed
 

tims4wins

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I recognize that this is getting pretty far into the intangible, but I do think that the NFL has suffered from mission creep.

They leaned into the military/"Football is Family"/football is America stuff extremely hard in order to build audience share. But they did it so well that football can no longer be just a sport where enormous athletic freaks pummel each other for our amusement. Now the NFL has to organize the game while protecting the shield AND the flag AND breasts AND victims of domestic abuse, etc. And it turns out that people who are good at organizing a sport where enormous athletic freaks pummel each other aren't necessarily real good at meaningfully deploying patriotic symbols or saving breasts or effectively addressing domestic violence etc.

The whole edifice has just gotten so obviously manipulative and unwieldy that it is less appealing (to me, at least).
This is a great post. It is all so unappealing.

Side note: was it me, or did the Pats not wear ANY pink this October? Silent protest?
 

DJnVa

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Dec 16, 2010
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Kinda serious stuff:
1. One challenge per half, last 2 minutes or not. It's completely up to the team, but one and one only. Everything is reviewable.
2. No automatic review on turnovers or scores UNLESS another official notices something.
3. Celebrations are fine.
4. Holding is 10 yard from the infraction if it's behind the LOS. Defense can also choose 5 yard with loss of down.
5. Stupid penalties like the WR on the outside isn't "covering" the last OL or whatever are done away with. Who cares?
6. Defensive holding (from a DB) is 5 yards extra from spot of foul. Pass interference is spot foul up to 20 yards, beyond that is 20 yards and first down.
7. Penalties of different yardage do not offset. If it's 10 yards on offense and 5 on defense, then back the offense up 5 yards.
8. Thursday games ONLY after a bye. (might be too much time off).
9. Goal line cameras. Seriously, WTF? Allow a small end zone ad or something to get revenue for it.

Stupid stuff:
1. Punts are live 50 yards from LOS.
2. Balls kicked through end zone start at 20. The NFL doesn't want returns, reward team for booting it all the way through.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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This is a great post. It is all so unappealing.

Side note: was it me, or did the Pats not wear ANY pink this October? Silent protest?
It was you. They didn't wear a lot compared to other teams though, so it's fair to miss it.



Edit: there's plenty of more pics but I'm on mobile. They wore some, not as much as most teams.
 

Bowhemian

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5) Shoot Goodell in the head.
I would also install cameras on the goal lines. The only reason I can think of for not having done so right now is that BB called for it. This is not exactly a macro point but it does seem ridiculous that the NFL has not taken that step.
This x1000000. Well OK, maybe just fire Goodell.
But for the goal line cameras, there is no reason they can't have them. I was watching part of a college game on Saturday, and the goal line camera was fantastic. I mean it is pretty cool seeing the quarterback with the ball coming right you to go over the pylon. If the NCAA can do it, no reason the $NFL$ can't.
 

tims4wins

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Eat Papa John's! Drink Bud Light! Support the troops! Donate to breast cancer! I get that the former are advertisements and the latter are legit causes but it all feels so forced
 

staz

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The cradle of the game.
The greatest loss in all the commercial/penalty stoppages might be the natural momentum of the game itself. Viewers lose the perspective of how an offensive line, for example, might be wearing down a defensive line, or how a single play can suspend or even reverse that momentum. These days, the presentation (and game itself) has become a collection of individual plays. The sequence of down and distance remains, but there's very little sense of momentum or flow.

This occurred to me watching the first quarter of Bills/Pats this week. Gillislee was leading a productive Bills drive until Hightower's hit sent him into next week. Gillislee staggered off, the Bills' drive lost all traction and they eventually had to settle for a FG. The presentation of that drive was exceptional because it was played mostly uninterrupted, allowing for a natural shift in momentum that was more obvious to the viewer. But in so many other instances, a drive-altering hit like that is forgotten in a bramble of commercials, flags and other distractions.

Maybe it part of the NFL's master plan to feed the Twitter world we live in with highlight reel plays, but artificially stitching them together with commerce has disintegrated the game's greater narrative.
 

mauf

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Is there anyone at all arguing against changing the PI rules and cutting way back on replays?

Let's start there.
Cutting back replays sounds good until a blown call that could've been corrected easily decides a game. There's a reason why every major sports league in North America has adopted some form of instant replay.

Personally, I would like to see the NFL adopt the college system and take the gamesmanship out of instant replay, but if anything that would slow down games and further break up the flow.
 

Devizier

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I'm sure this argument has been touched on before, but Ballghazi has to have an effect here, right?

Think about it this way; the NFL just led a massive witch hunt against one of its most successful players, who plays for the most reviled franchise in the league. Fans lived up to their name by embracing the hysteria. The league imposes unilateral punishment, overturned on appeal, and reinstated after another appeal. This case drags on for longer than a year. At long last, the supervillain and his franchise are given heavy punishment.

And then they come back and keep winning fucking games. The closest analogy I could think of would be if the Lebron-Bosh-Wade trio had actually won six, seven championships like they promised. That shit probably drives people despondent.
 

Captaincoop

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Cutting back replays sounds good until a blown call that could've been corrected easily decides a game. There's a reason why every major sports league in North America has adopted some form of instant replay.
I loved watching football before instant replay. The occasional blown call was part of the game. And it still is, since some of the most impactful blown calls possible in the game are non-reviewable.

Let the coaches have one replay each per game, to be used at their own discretion. Or let the officials replay calls in the last two minutes. Or get rid of replay entirely. Whatever.

The way it is working now is a disaster. The games are stopped constantly throughout, and then in the final minutes of a game, the officials blow a 45-yard pass interference call anyway.
 

Harry Hooper

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I loved watching football before instant replay. The occasional blown call was part of the game. And it still is, since some of the most impactful blown calls possible in the game are non-reviewable.

Let the coaches have one replay each per game, to be used at their own discretion. Or let the officials replay calls in the last two minutes. Or get rid of replay entirely. Whatever.

The way it is working now is a disaster. The games are stopped constantly throughout, and then in the final minutes of a game, the officials blow a 45-yard pass interference call anyway.
Or a 45-yard pass interference non-call, as in Gronk getting tackled in the end zone. You're on the right track, I think. Maybe coaches get 1 challenge per half, everything is reviewable.
 

timelysarcasm

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I'm sure this argument has been touched on before, but Ballghazi has to have an effect here, right?

Think about it this way; the NFL just led a massive witch hunt against one of its most successful players, who plays for the most reviled franchise in the league. Fans lived up to their name by embracing the hysteria. The league imposes unilateral punishment, overturned on appeal, and reinstated after another appeal. This case drags on for longer than a year. At long last, the supervillain and his franchise are given heavy punishment.

And then they come back and keep winning fucking games. The closest analogy I could think of would be if the Lebron-Bosh-Wade trio had actually won six, seven championships like they promised. That shit probably drives people despondent.
I don't know, the Patriots have been villains for a good long time. I think it's good to have a team so universally hated, actually.

Anecdotally, I used to watch 5-6 full games per week, but they're just so boring now. I agree with others that it's a combination of things - most notably of late is the abundance of flags, reviews, and stoppages in play. It's mind-numbingly slow at times and I find myself doing other things or flipping channels a lot (this is during non-Patriots games). There's also the fact that there are so many bad/mediocre teams and poor QBs playing right now. It's a perfect storm of suck and I find it hard to get excited about non-Patriots games anymore.

Probably better for my Sundays in the long run.
 

Infield Infidel

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Cutting back replays sounds good until a blown call that could've been corrected easily decides a game. There's a reason why every major sports league in North America has adopted some form of instant replay.

Personally, I would like to see the NFL adopt the college system and take the gamesmanship out of instant replay, but if anything that would slow down games and further break up the flow.
Replay itself isn't the problem, it's the marriage of replay and arcane gray-area rules. The way to cut back on replay is to make calls easier for the refs. more black/white, less gray. For instance, catch/no-catch is too often ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, so anything close is reviewed. If the ball touching the ground automatically nullified a catch, a ref could more easily call it. One foot in is easier to call than two feet in. Culling the rule book of stuff like that would make replay not only rarer but better
 

loshjott

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With the advent of huge HDTVs and super slo mo tech, replay is here to stay. It's much easier to nitpick every ref mistake than it was 25-30 yrs ago and fans and coaches won't stand for no way to rectify bad calls. Combine that with a pass happy league and arcane rules and the constantly shifting points of emphasis and you have today's mess.
 

Jettisoned

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I haven't read the entire thread so maybe this was brought up earlier, but the ratings drop is probably because the majority of people born after 1980 are watching games on illegal streams. The same sort of thing is happening with Premier League/Champions League football in England.

The problem these leagues/networks are facing is that these broadcasts aren't really excludable goods anymore. Eventually these things will probably be broadcast like that Yahoo! game last year where they just stream the game for free for anyone who wants to watch while charging for ad space.
 

Spelunker

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Cutting back replays sounds good until a blown call that could've been corrected easily decides a game. There's a reason why every major sports league in North America has adopted some form of instant replay.

Personally, I would like to see the NFL adopt the college system and take the gamesmanship out of instant replay, but if anything that would slow down games and further break up the flow.
You see this in game threads. If someone with no knowledge were dropped into one any week, they'd be very confused if there should be fewer penalties or more.
 

luckiestman

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I haven't read the entire thread so maybe this was brought up earlier, but the ratings drop is probably because the majority of people born after 1980 are watching games on illegal streams. The same sort of thing is happening with Premier League/Champions League football in England.

The problem these leagues/networks are facing is that these broadcasts aren't really excludable goods anymore. Eventually these things will probably be broadcast like that Yahoo! game last year where they just stream the game for free for anyone who wants to watch while charging for ad space.

It's a fair point but Sunday night football is free over the air with no blackout restrictions that I know of and even their numbers are down.
 

Jettisoned

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A lot of people watch Sunday night games via illegal stream regardless of that fact, though.
 

The Gray Eagle

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Football is a terrible sport, for a lot of different reasons. I have been addicted to the NFL for 40-something years, and I can't quit watching it, even though I know it's bad. I have cut down a lot though. I used to get Sunday Ticket, but I stopped that a few years ago. I also used to pay for the online video of games after they ended, whatever that's called, but I don't do that anymore either. I won't be giving anymore money to the NFL.

Like I said, I still watch and follow it though, mostly for social reasons and addiction reasons. I wish I could totally boycott it but I can't. Watching the NFL makes you a worse person, but luckily watching baseball will mostly cancel that out.

If they want to try to fix the ratings, they could shorten the play clock to make teams run more plays quicker, and spend less time in huddles and less time waiting for subs to hurry in and out. That would greatly improve the pace of play, which needs fixing badly. Coaches would hate it, because they are now totally dependent on shuttling 4 or 5 different players in and out on every single play, but all that substitution doesn't do anything to make the game more enjoyable to watch.

Of course they need to have fewer and shorter commercial breaks but I can't see the greedheads of the NFL doing anything meaningful about that. Someone mentioned soccer, the main reason watching soccer is so much better than watching the NFL is that there are virtually no commercials interrupting the play when you are watching a soccer game. Lots of commercials before the game, at halftime and after it's over, but no sitting around in the middle of the game for 3 or 4 minutes of commercials.

Obviously the catch rule needs to be fixed. What kind of league can't tell you what a catch is in one simple sentence? It goes beyond that, though. The rules are too complicated, nitpicky and there are way too many of them. They need to throw out about half of the rulebook. That is another thing that won't happen though. The league is all about nitpicky rules, so if anything they will probably add even more 'gray area" rules and make more of a mess of things.

Like offensive holding: everyone knows that holding happens on every single play. But it is only called once in a while, basically at the random whims of the ref. The same hold will be ignored on one play that goes for a touchdown, but then the next time it will get a flag, wiping out the other team's big play. It's ridiculous. They probably should just make offensive holding legal and be done with it. That would at least be more fair and consistent than any ref could make it. Give the defense a corresponding break, like making pass interference 15 yards or something. The point is they need to cut back on rules and make the refs much less impactful in the game, and also reduce all the flags flying after every play.

There are many reasons for the drop in ratings, not just one or two. And I actually hope the NFL's ratings decline continues and even steepens. That would be better for me personally and for American culture, and it would be the only way that any changes would come that would make the game better. It probably won't happen, though. There's lots of dumb people out there and the NFL is made for them, so they'll probably come back.
 

ZMart100

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I am encouraged that so many people want to dump Thursday football. It is not a good product as it is and should be limited to the first week and Thanksgiving. The other alternative would be to restrict Thursday football to teams coming off bye weeks with the two exceptions listed above.
 

hbk72777

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Also, let players celebrate however they damn well want to.

Yup, the Icky Shuffle was all anybody in my 6th grade class would do.

My biggest turnoff right now are the penalties. It seems that no one knows what the hell a penalty is anymore.


This one still has me scratching my head.

http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2016/10/giants_will_seek_feedback_from_nfl_on_bogus_pass_i.html

And the damn bobble rule

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2015/11/15/9740760/odell-beckham-touchdown-catch-giants-patriots-referee-controversy

I've seen players get catches/TDs where they never had clear control of the ball, and others where they took 2 steps and still not get it ruled a catch, because there's an "impending contact"

The NFL's rules state that a player has to complete the catch through the moment he "becomes a runner," which is defined as the moment he "is capable of avoiding or warding off impending contact." This wording is new this year, replacing the dreaded "football move" language that previously existed.

It's just head scratching sometimes. You know it's bad when the head of officials in NY is asked to give his opinion on a challenged play, and 9 times out of 10, the in game ref comes back with the opposite call. If he doesn't know, how can we?
 

hbk72777

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I am encouraged that so many people want to dump Thursday football. It is not a good product as it is and should be limited to the first week and Thanksgiving. The other alternative would be to restrict Thursday football to teams coming off bye weeks with the two exceptions listed above.

I use to like the late season Saturday night games. Those went away with Thursday night Football
 

Ralphwiggum

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Someone mentioned it above, but the problem isn't instant replay in and of itself, which could be tweaked a little but is otherwise something that the league should be able to to figure out. The problem is the catch rule, and the subsequent replays of close calls on catches where nobody can figure out from play to play what a catch is, even with super slow-mo high definition camera angles. When you have a fundamental part of the game, in this case "did the receiver catch the ball or not" when people who watch a shit-ton of football do not have the first fucking clue whether the person caught the ball or not, you have a big fucking problem.

There are a bunch of suggestions in here that make sense but are never gong to happen. In terms of a few "easy" things they could do to make the game more watchable, my list would be:

1. Simplify the catch rule. If any part of the ball touches the ground, no catch. If the receiver has possession of the ball in the end zone for a split second, it's a touchdown (same with a RB extending the ball over the goal line). Get rid of the rule where the guy has to have possession all the way to the end of the catch. If he's "down" by contact and his arms are still wrapped around the ball, it's a catch. Three easy "black and white" changes that I think would take all of the mystery out of "catch or no catch".

2. Replay: two replays per half seems like the right number. Kill the auto replays the last two minutes, make the coaches save their challenges for the big stuff. Make everything reviewable, but get rid of the auto-reviews for turnovers and scores. On the Edelman play on Sunday if the refs rule he scores it gets automatically reviewed, but if they rule he's down at the 1 yard line the Pats have to use a challenge if they want to see if he scored. That sort of imbalance doesn't make sense and allows the coaches to hoard their challenges and use them on dumb shit like "was that 7 yard catch on 2nd and 10 complete or not". If you take away auto replay on turnovers and scores, most of the coach replays will be used on turnovers and scores, where they should be.

3. Go back to the pre-2004 rules on DB contact with receivers. If a guy mauls a receiver trying to get open, call it. Let the ticky-tack incidental stuff go.

4. Kill Thursday night football.

5. Let players celebrate big plays so long as they are not taunting.
 

NortheasternPJ

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 16, 2004
19,271
I use to like the late season Saturday night games. Those went away with Thursday night Football
Those games were fantastic, because we got an extra dose of football we usually didn't, so it was much watch TV. Now that they rollout that crappy TNF product I couldn't care less about a Saturday game.
 

cornwalls@6

Less observant than others
SoSH Member
Apr 23, 2010
6,247
from the wilds of western ma
I also really enjoyed the late season Saturday games. Something about having games, usually with playoff implications, on the Saturday before Christmas really worked. IIRC, the AFC east clincher against Miami in 2001 was a Saturday afternoon game. Contrast that buzz and excitement to the drek served up every Thursday now, which has also managed to badly diminish and dilute the fun/treat element of thanksgiving day games. I really think my own declining interest in the overall league comes down to having too much inventory of a mediocre product.
 

tims4wins

PN23's replacement
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
37,054
Hingham, MA
Yep, the late season Saturday games were great - almost a preview of getting playoff football on Saturdays. The college football regular season and conference title games wrap up by mid-December anyway so not sure why the NFL went away from this.
 

mauf

Anderson Cooper × Mr. Rogers
Moderator
SoSH Member
Saturday football hasn't gone away, but I understand why people thought it had.

The college season ends a week later than it once did (the Army-Navy game is only two weeks before Christmas!), and for fairness reasons the NFL wants all Week 17 games played on Sunday. That only leaves two weekends where Saturday games are possible, and one of them can get scotched if Christmas falls on a weekend (like this year, when Christmas falls on Sunday and most NFL games will be played on Saturday). The Jets and Dolphins will play a Saturday game in Week 15, but that's the only Saturday game we'll get besides Christmas Eve.
 

DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
SoSH Member
Dec 16, 2010
53,837
A lot of people watch Sunday night games via illegal stream regardless of that fact, though.
I've watched my share of sports this way, but I'm pretty sure that if the game was available for free over the air I certainly wouldn't watch via illegal stream. Why would I? And enough people are doing this to drive those numbers down?
 

joe dokes

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
30,233
I also really enjoyed the late season Saturday games. Something about having games, usually with playoff implications, on the Saturday before Christmas really worked. IIRC, the AFC east clincher against Miami in 2001 was a Saturday afternoon game. Contrast that buzz and excitement to the drek served up every Thursday now, which has also managed to badly diminish and dilute the fun/treat element of thanksgiving day games. I really think my own declining interest in the overall league comes down to having too much inventory of a mediocre product.

IIRC, part of the reasoning behind Saturday games was to ensure that NY (and later LA) would get 3 games on Sunday (especially the national doubleheader game) and not just the 2 involving the locals as they do for most of the season, because one of them is usually at home and thus those markets didn't get the doubleheader game. I'm not sure how to check easily, but I suspect a disproportionate number of those Saturday games involved a team from NY or LA.

EDIT: To follow up on maufman's point below, there was no flexing in the Saturday game era, and the games weren;t showcases. It was, at least in part, to get certain teams/markets "out of the way."
 
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mauf

Anderson Cooper × Mr. Rogers
Moderator
SoSH Member
Yep, the late season Saturday games were great - almost a preview of getting playoff football on Saturdays. The college football regular season and conference title games wrap up by mid-December anyway so not sure why the NFL went away from this.
Honestly, I don't remember the Saturday games being any better than the Thursday games -- usually, it was an average matchup between two teams I didn't care about. I guess there might have been a bit of anticipation, like "oooh, in a few weeks we'll be watching good football on Saturdays," but the games themselves weren't appointment viewing.