Bad Calls and NFL Ad Revenue

[Stash]

IMO, the sport is already finished. In my family, we LOL at the stupid calls and missed calls. We even guess the next penalty. The league is already a joke!

You have a better sense of humor than I do! I don't think I could ever bring myself to do anything other than getting mad at the ridiculously awful penalties called and not called. It seems to me that no matter what the league tries to do, things get worse, not better.

 

[MarcusRock]

The did not mind others wrapping it up early for several other teams. As I said I don't think refs really care who wins a game or not, they do the best they can and sometimes that best is not great. I will say there are many times in a game I will see a play they call and holler at the TV and then see it in slow motion and from a different view that they were right. I think it is a harder job than people give credit for. Coaches and players are not beyond mistakes why anyone would think the refs are?

Because highly emotional fans are not getting every single call they want. Then when your team loses, you have to invent a story that shows you didn't really lose, you were "cheated." Then you can save face to your tormenting buddies.

 

[Kaiser]

Because highly emotional fans are not getting every single call they want. Then when your team loses, you have to invent a story that shows you didn't really lose, you were "cheated." Then you can save face to your tormenting buddies.

That certainly explains why my OP began by saying the calls benefited Dallas in the Indy game.

 

[Doomsday101]

Because highly emotional fans are not getting every single call they want. Then when your team loses, you have to invent a story that shows you didn't really lose, you were "cheated." Then you can save face to your tormenting buddies.

True, I work with fans from other teams. Skins fan, a Bears fan, Saints fan and a few Texans fans. One thing they all have in common is it was the refs fault when they lose. lol

 

[JoeKing]

I'm theorizing this thread is more interesting if you make a habit of wearing a tinfoil hat.

 

[Runwildboys]

Conspiracy is merely a secret plan made by a group of people to accomplish an illegal or immoral goal. Conspiracy happens all the time, and it often involves big, sophisticated businesses or political interests. That doesn't mean that conspiracy abounds in every event. I think Oswald acted alone. There was a moon landing. New Coke was a poor attempt to modernize a product people loved.

On the other hand, the Enron scandal resulted from conspiracy as have other events instigated by big business interests one would have thought would have seen the danger and the likely outcome. Often conspiracy has been proven. Tinfoil hates aren't required. Greed is an extreme motivator.

Sport hasn't been immune to conspiracy, and not all "conspiracy" is organized or results from a written memo or verbal instruction. Often mid-level players know what actions are desired by those above them and respond to such desire in what effectively functions as if it were an organized conspiracy.

I don't know whether on-field officials place a thumb on the scale. I doubt seriously they have received explicit instructions to do so. Have they ascertained such desire from the league and acted more or less independently to implement? I don't know, but I don't see how such a scenario can be ruled out. It happens in many big business scenarios. Why should the NFL be exempt?

I do think the NFL has set itself up for a future scandal, and I don't think it requires tinfoil to hold this view. The rules have become so interpretive that it would not be difficult for an official or officials to "interpret" a play or plays in a manner to influence the point spread or the over/under.

The NFL once eschewed full-time officials because many of the best worked in professions they were unlikely to leave. Every year some of those veteran officials retire. Younger officials arguably could be more vulnerable to temptation. But we shall see.

In any case, the NFL is big business and can become tainted as easily as any such entity. Gambling interests make such an event more likely. I do not understand why anyone finds this in any way unbelievable or unlikely. The ticking time bomb is always a few foolish decisions from being activated.

There would be far too many moving parts to accomplish the goal the OP is presenting. For the officials to intentionally keep the games close, they'd need a reason. That reason would have to come from someone high up in the league, and there's just no way everyone who knew about it would keep their mouths shut, yet how many current or ex NFL employees have gone on record to divulge any type of impropriety?

 

[cern]

For the calls to be bogus, 112 referees would have to be paid off every week to officiate 16 games. Who do you suggest is paying them? The league? The commissioners office? The advertisers themselves. Highly unlikely given the risk that one disgruntled official could bring the whole thing to a screeching halt.

 

[Runwildboys]

Great post, Hitler never signed an order directing the Holocaust in his "Final Solution". He gave speeches about it and then put people in high positions that he knew would do it. People who had every incentive to do it and would have been punished (executed) if they didn't. The ***** held formal conferences to plan the logistics, but there was never a paper trail that Hitler ordered it directly.

And yet we know it happened, because people spoke up.

 

[Shake_Tiller]

True, I work with fans from other teams. Skins fan, a Bears fan, Saints fan and a few Texans fans. One thing they all have in common is it was the refs fault when they lose. lol

I am a fan and certainly have been guilty of seeing calls through the eye of a fan. I'm as guilty as anyone. But there is something different -- a trend that has built during the Goodell years. It's not that I'm angry about particular calls. I find that disturbing calls, poor calls, ubiquitous officiating, torrents of flags, etc. have decreased my enjoyment of a game I've loved for more than five decades. I was as angry as anyone with the call on the Manders recovery in the first Cowboys Super Bowl and the questionable pass interference that influenced a Super Bowl loss to the Steelers. I was angry.

But those calls did nothing to affect my enjoyment of the game. I understood that such calls were part of the game.

Poor, biased or corrupt officiating has become an impediment to my enjoyment of the game. I'm saddened by the fact, and I wish I didn't feel that way. But I'm not one to ignore reality.

 

[conner01]

I think the league is concerned with law suites like they dealt with in the concussion cases. They are putting an emphasis on protecting players and while I understand that I also understand football is a physical game and once you remove the physical nature of the game it is no longer football as many of us know it.

No doubt most rules are intended to make the game safer and their concern with safety is mostly because of legal liability

 

[Doomsday101]

I am a fan and certainly have been guilty of seeing calls through the eye of a fan. I'm as guilty as anyone. But there is something different -- a trend that has built during the Goodell years. It's not that I'm angry about particular calls. I find that disturbing calls, poor calls, ubiquitous officiating, torrents of flags, etc. have decreased my enjoyment of a game I've loved for more than five decades. I was as angry as anyone with the call on the Manders recovery in the first Cowboys Super Bowl and the questionable pass interference that influenced a Super Bowl loss to the Steelers. I was angry.

But those calls did nothing to affect my enjoyment of the game. I understood that such calls were part of the game.

Poor, biased or corrupt officiating has become an impediment to my enjoyment of the game. I'm saddened by the fact, and I wish I didn't feel that way. But I'm not one to ignore reality.

I can agree with poor calls but again I put a lot of that on the competition committee who each year goes in and alters the rules and put emphasis on other rules already in place. I think that can be a bit much for the refs. I think if for the next couple of years just left the game alone you would likely see better officiating. As for biased or corruption I don't think refs give a flip as to who wins or loses a game.

 

[Kaiser]

For the officials to intentionally keep the games close, they'd need a reason. That reason would have to come from someone high up in the league, and there's just no way everyone who knew about it would keep their mouths shut, yet how many current or ex NFL employees have gone on record to divulge any type of impropriety?

Billions in revenue isn't a reason? You may want to talk to anyone in the Hedge Fund world where much bigger groups than this understand exactly what it takes to maximize revenue (and keep their job and get max perks) and shade things in a way that maximizes that revenue. And they don't have to hand out a set of instructions to do so.

 

[Bohuntr97]

You have a better sense of humor than I do! I don't think I could ever bring myself to do anything other than getting mad at the ridiculously awful penalties called and not called. It seems to me that no matter what the league tries to do, things get worse, not better.

I can't figure it out either. They are now full time, are required to take annual exams, required to attend an annual meeting to learn any new rules or points emphasis, attend and work mini camps, etc. etc. Even now every official receives a thumb drive with the game they just called so they can review it on the plane ride home.

 

[cern]

Great post, Hitler never signed an order directing the Holocaust in his "Final Solution". He gave speeches about it and then put people in high positions that he knew would do it. People who had every incentive to do it and would have been punished (executed) if they didn't. The ***** held formal conferences to plan the logistics, but there was never a paper trail that Hitler ordered it directly.

He knew his flunkies well.

 

[Shake_Tiller]

There would be far too many moving parts to accomplish the goal the OP is presenting. For the officials to intentionally keep the games close, they'd need a reason. That reason would have to come from someone high up in the league, and there's just no way everyone who knew about it would keep their mouths shut, yet how many current or ex NFL employees have gone on record to divulge any type of impropriety?

That's a reasonable position. But history isn't supportive, sadly. I am in the energy business and was acquainted, for instance, with a number of mid- to high-level Enron employees. Most were straight shooters. In some cases, if there was a conspiracy it was one of silence -- not dishonest silence as much as disbelieving or uncertain silence.

Now I do agree with you, for the most part. I don't think there is a broad plan in place. But I have come to believe that many officials, consciously or sub-consciously, are making calls designed to accomplish certain outcomes. Some of it might be passive aggression. But that's another subject, I suppose.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

Bad calls happen in every sport.

What you're experiencing is called confirmation bias: the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories.

The conspiracists are not the forum’s best and brightest; that’s not a coincidence.

 

[Doomsday101]

No doubt most rules are intended to make the game safer and their concern with safety is mostly because of legal liability

My issue with it is the game is not safe, people will get injured and sometimes serious injury but in my view it is the nature of the sport. No one is being forced to play in the NFL. Unlike the league who has gone above and beyond to protect QB because people go to watch them? Sorry I go to watch a football game not just a QB.

 

[Bohuntr97]

I can agree with poor calls but again I put a lot of that on the competition committee who each year goes in and alters the rules and put emphasis on other rules already in place. I think that can be a bit much for the refs. I think if for the next couple of years just left the game alone you would likely see better officiating. As for biased or corruption I don't think refs give a flip as to who wins or loses a game.

I don't think they care either. They just want to get the calls right so they can be nominated to officiate playoff games.

 

[Kaiser]

And yet we know it happened, because people spoke up.

No, we know it happened because millions of people died and we liberated the Concentration Camps during the invasion of Germany.

In fact, it was the opposite of people "speaking up". FDR largely ignored the reports of it and refused to prioritize Jews for immigration when the early reports were coming in. He was also lobbied to bomb the train stations carrying people to the Concentration Camps over bombing tactical targets as a moral responsibility. He didn't do that either.

 

[Shake_Tiller]

I can agree with poor calls but again I put a lot of that on the competition committee who each year goes in and alters the rules and put emphasis on other rules already in place. I think that can be a bit much for the refs. I think if for the next couple of years just left the game alone you would likely see better officiating. As for biased or corruption I don't think refs give a flip as to who wins or loses a game.

I agree 100% with your thoughts regarding the complexity of the rules and interpretations and with the impact on officials. I am more cynical with regard to bias and corruption. The amazing thing is that the NFL has avoided scandal as long as it has. Scandal will come one day. Adam always tries the fruit, and once in a while he gets caught naked.