If You Replaced Tags...

[mschmidt64]

4. If you slap a franchise tag on one of your players and re-sign him, he remains your team's official franchise guy for as long as he's on the roster. You can't name a guy a franchise player and then slap the tag on a different player the next year.

I think that makes zero sense. The whole point of the tag is so he can't bolt, and you have time to make a long term deal with him.

So we should punish teams for reaching long term deals with the players they drafted? Bah.

 

[mschmidt64]

PS, making the refs full time will hurt the quality of officiating. Weld it.

 

[bbgun]

I think that makes zero sense. The whole point of the tag is so he can't bolt, and you have time to make a long term deal with him.

That's fine, but you only get to use that ploy once, so choose that player wisely.

So we should punish teams for reaching long term deals with the players they drafted? Bah.

The alternative is to punish players with a phoney version of free agency. The current system is rigged to keep multiple players from reaching the market. That's not right. If a player likes your team, city, and contract offer, he shouldn't be coerced into staying (ie, John Abraham).

 

[Rack]

1. Fire Gene Washington.

2. The Saints can move, but not to LA. LA has already proven they don't want a team. Tough s***, they don't get another one.

3. Get rid of the "Illegal Contact" BS rule. It's either PI or it's not PI. No gray areas.

4. QBs and WRs would have to take off their skirts and become football players again.

5. Refs already make enough money to not need a second job. But they would have to go to a "training session" for a month every off season. \

 

[Qwickdraw]

I would change the current overtime method.

OT would consist of a set time limit with both teams having opportunities to score.

I also fully agree with all the above mentioned changes regarding refs and their pay, training, requirements, etc.

 

[DallasEast]

-- Relocated teams are required to change their names. No more Indianapolis/Baltimore Colts or Los Angeles/St.Louis Rams. It will instead be like the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans. New teams in cities that previously had NFL franchises will be required to take the name of the former team, just like the Browns did. No more Houston Oilers to Houston Texans. NFL history is what makes this sport great. Continuity is encouraged.

-- The Hall of Fame voting process will be changed so that current members and respected coaches and players can vote. Media voting will no longer be anonymous.

-- Super Bowls will no longer be played only in domes. The NFL needs more Ice Bowls. Those are the types of games the fans remember. The game needs to be even more exciting with the watered down parity driven league.

-- The NFL will invest even more heavily in Pop Warner football leagues, especially in poor regions of the country where it may be a kid's only way out. More youth need to be introduced to football to keep the sport healthy and alive.

-- Players drafted by teams would only count towards half of the salary cap. So a five year $30 million contract would only count $15 million towards the salary cap. Teams should not be penalized for good drafting. The game prospers when fans root for the same player from beginning to end, no matter how old or expensive he gets. This would also encourage players to stick with their original team since they will usually get more money by staying.

-- Always make sure a heavy percentage of the games are available on free network TV to keep the game popular with everyone. NEVER go to pay-per-view. Make internet radio broadcasts free to encourage people to follow their team. Perhaps sell information of radio listeners or have a RealPlayer advertising machine set-up during the entire game to compensate for lost income.

-- Try even harder to spread the NFL in other countries. More efforts than just NFL Europe and preseason games in Mexico. Look towards Canada. See the previous suggestion on youth leagues in other countries, much like baseball does with the Caribbean nations.

I agree wholeheartedly with the prospect of making the league more exciting in this parity era (I've been saying that for over a decade), but I totally disagree with the anti-dome concept. In fact, imo, domes should be a prerequisite of every professional football franchise.

Regardless of whether a game is played during the regular season, postseason or the Super Bowl, I don't want to see the elements play a crucial role in the outcome of a professional football game. Let the best team win and eliminate the weather factor. I don't want to see...

...a game-winning field goal attempt get blown wide right because a wind gust suddenly came out of nowhere...

I don't want to see a critical 4th-and-goal at the one go against the defense simply because the DL wasn't wearing the right cleats for an icy field...

I don't want to see a running back fumble without even being touched due to the ball being drenched by rain, snow or sleet...

Instead, let pro games be decided by a kicker pulling a Mike Vanderjagt when the game is on the line, etc. The NFL is the pinnacle stage for this sport to be played on. Let's keep Mother Nature on the sidelines where she belongs.

 

[big dog cowboy]

If You Replaced Tags.....as NFL Commissioner, what would be the main items on your agenda?

Party time Italian style.

 

[Nors]

...as NFL Commissioner, what would be the main items on your agenda?


1. I would orchestrate the move of the Saints to Los Angeles. It just makes sense to have a team in the #2 TV Market. I think the team needs a makeover and fresh start. They virtually don't have a home.

2. To compensate New Orleans for the loss of their team I award all future Super Bowls not already set to New Orleans with the caveat that they build a suitable stadium to handle the game. The Super Bowl would be a neutral site and New Orleans would have Super Bowl revenue to rebuild it's image.

3. No more part time Officials. It doesn't make sense to trust an industry worth billions in the hands of part time employees. In the off season refs would have training. They'd be part of the competition committee. Achieving NFL referee would be a prestigious accomplishment.

4. In conjunction with #3 no more vague rules that are up to interpretation. Replay would need to make sense. I am sick of it not working. They can't overturn a call unless it is indisputable? Nonsense. Take Big Ben's TD. Don't give a team 6 points unless the evidence is indisputable that he crossed the line. They've got it backwards.

Got your own ideas? Or rip mine apart.

1) Los Angeles doesn't even want another team. NO ONE THERE CARES. Fix and keep football in New Orleans or in a city that will support NFL and that wants it.
2) You're fired. It's in footballs best interest to rotate locations. That has been a home run - no reason to give it all to Aints.
3/4) Tweaking the referee's etc is nice but a moth ball issue. Get better refs, tweak instant replay. People will ***** and moan about calls forever. More imperative is to continue to proactively keep gambling, illegal drugs, steroids out and keep core integrity of NFL intact.
Avoid being the next NHL/MLB with game impacting ties to organized crimes.

* Continue to build out NFL Network. Make inroads on a package to Cable sub's ala Sunday Ticket. Continue to explore expanded coverage during season. Expand viewrs access to NFL and generate $ in the process.

*Scrap NFLe - its now a joke. Teams just send over scrubs
and the talent is so poor it is hardly the developmental game envisioned. Explore the possibility of a North American Minor League system. That could get players into new markets and be a real developmental league. It would be a Fall Schedule.

* Most all agenda's are reactionary, react to a bad call last year etc etc. React, whine, complain. A commissioner is called on to have VISION. Project the game out 30 years. I'd start a vision committe of owners, players/union, business community to put together a 30 year plan. Build that vision.

*Hos missed the single biggest issue facing this sport. The CBA, There is a BIG divide amongst the owners. We have the really have's and the have's. There is a perception that all teams are on a level playing field due to salary cap. Not all teams revenue streams are equal. You have the Allens, Jones, Snyders, Glazers, Krafts that are of billionaire ilk and means. Some teams generate rev streams well in excess of the smaller market teams. Go look at a non Dallas game in the Arizona? Half the stadium is empty. They can't compete with THE BIG BOYS. There is going to be a fight in the desert or a line so to speak drawn on this issue. That is what needs priority - get the CBA done - and the holdup is amongst the owners.

Great Commisioners are visionaries, who have the ability to bring diverse agenda's, people gtogether for the common good of the sport and all. The next commissioner has a tall task, following the great Pete Rozelle and Tags.

 

[jterrell]

interesting questions....

1. I'd make the Commanders play in pink and make sure all owners were over 5 foot tall.
Hey gotta have some fun on the job ya know.


2. I'd wipe illegal contact rules off the book.

3. I'd make blocks in the back 5 yards from the END of the run IF away from the play.

4. I would not award cold weather cities Super Bowls. Dome or no dome the super bowl is a week long gathering and that gathering draws moths in these frigid climes like Detroit. Cold weather is also too big a factor for some teams like NE. Can you imagine how horrid a SB would be between two warm weather teams forced to travel to Foxboro in January?

5. I would change instance replay to allow challenges to all calls. If a ref can miss one type of call and they do, then they can miss them all. I also agree with Hos here in that I wouldn't give calls on the field any special reverence. You are reviewing it because refs are fallible. If the review deserves a second guess then make it a fresh one.

6. I would personally handle all cheerleading hires for the NFL teams. :laugh1:

7. I would change scheduling to free up more games based on record.

8. I would move the Eagles to LA but leave them in the NFCEast, lol.

 

[Bizwah]

I agree with CBz40....

The PI penalty is ridiculous. Imagine two teams fighting it out over 59 minutes. One team throws a prayer up at the end of the game. Both the defender and the receiver are jockeying for position. The ref makes a judgement call that moves the ball 50 yards down the field for a potential game-winning FG.

Is that fair? Is it fair that a game be decided by a ticky-tack call? Both teams fight it out only to have the game decided by the whim of an official.

There should be two types of PIs. For inadvertant PIs, let it be a fifteen yard penalty/automatic first-down. For intentional PIs, let it be a spot foul (otherwise, teams would tackle Randy Moss every time).

 

[MinnesotaCowboy]

...as NFL Commissioner, what would be the main items on your agenda?


1. I would orchestrate the move of the Saints to Los Angeles. It just makes sense to have a team in the #2 TV Market. I think the team needs a makeover and fresh start. They virtually don't have a home.

2. To compensate New Orleans for the loss of their team I award all future Super Bowls not already set to New Orleans with the caveat that they build a suitable stadium to handle the game. The Super Bowl would be a neutral site and New Orleans would have Super Bowl revenue to rebuild it's image.

3. No more part time Officials. It doesn't make sense to trust an industry worth billions in the hands of part time employees. In the off season refs would have training. They'd be part of the competition committee. Achieving NFL referee would be a prestigious accomplishment.

4. In conjunction with #3 no more vague rules that are up to interpretation. Replay would need to make sense. I am sick of it not working. They can't overturn a call unless it is indisputable? Nonsense. Take Big Ben's TD. Don't give a team 6 points unless the evidence is indisputable that he crossed the line. They've got it backwards.

Got your own ideas? Or rip mine apart.

I agree with all but #2, Hos. I could see maybe a SB in NO maybe once every 3 years but not every year! Something that extreme could play a big part in the development of new stadiums as the old ones become antiques which is pretty durn fast in this day and age! (especially in the Southern part of the country). No SB, no new stadium! Besides it would really upset Jerry's big plans. :tantrum:

 

[Sitting Bull]

Some teams generate rev streams well in excess of the smaller market teams. Go look at a non Dallas game in the Arizona? Half the stadium is empty. They can't compete with THE BIG BOYS. There is going to be a fight in the desert or a line so to speak drawn on this issue. That is what needs priority - get the CBA done - and the holdup is amongst the owners.

But Nors, it's not much of an issue when every team is making money and two smaller market teams just played in the Super Bowl. The salary cap does work and is enough to ensure competitive balance. Arguing over degrees of wealth does not matter to the fans. I agree with your assertion that calls for reform come and go based on whatever happened in the most recent season. I think the league is a model for other sports and is generally excellent. Nobody is going to cry for Arizona when negotiating the CBA. Phoenix is the sixth largest city in the US (4th or 5th if you look at the entire metro area). Everyone knows the two simple reasons why Arizona doesn't draw for non-Dallas games: the team stinks and the sweltering, open air stadium is an unpleasant place to watch a game. One excuse will die next season with the opening of the new retractable dome. The rest is up to the team.

 

[Seven]

Demolish the current HOF body. Re-establish under the NFL with statistical guide lines and impact a player brought to the game of football. Have 1 player from each team, already in the hall, to do the voting. NO press personell what-so-ever............If I was Tags.

 

[Arch Stanton]

No more expansion of the league. The talent pool is watered down enough.

 

[Zippy Speedster]

-More Cheerleaders! Especially in promo ads during the games. We gotta sit through 20 dorito commericials each game, cowboys should be doing the splitz in the background.

-Temp NFL Headquarters move to Cuba----All Manning's lined up and shot.

-Relocate NFL Headquarters back to the US, Colts & Giants each given compensation in the form of a tiny little gold fiddle that fits in the hand. It plays prerecorded stuff too.

-Cambell's Soup Monopoly is immediately disbanded.

-Former Name Celebrities such as Troy Aikman, Joe Montana, Emmitt Smith, and like, etc, are automatically paid handsomely for any league requested public appearances. Players like Noname Joe, Desmond Howard, Larry Brown, and like, etc, continue with the going rate of $1000.

-Public Cheesehead Burning. All participants will even get paid a set rate. Bring in 5 used stinky cheeseheads and you get double. Buy them straight off the shelf to then inturn burn, you get your picture taken with Howdy.

-MTV is given sole rights to produce all league related media promotions; Opening Game, Thanksgiving Day Game, All Playoffs, Super Bowl, and Pro Bowl. Nipples never killed anyone, but a few of the recent NFL santctioned acts sure as hell have come close.

-A Patriot Act with all currently employed Network Announcers and Pregame Analysts is signed. From this point on they all work as double agents in hopes of one day returning serious sports broadcasting back to the people.

-I get caught having elicit sexual affairs with the Heads of Cheerleaders around the country. After which I somehow win the Presidency of the United States by write-in vote and quit this stressful job. Only as soon as the President of Russia says he's an Eagle fan, it's the end of the world as we literally know it and all my hard work was for not. But atleast later generations once they figure out how to remake DVD players (or find one that still works) will beable to watch the cowboy Dorito Commericials my one shining achievement to a race nearly extinct.

Vote Zippy!

 

[bbgun]

And when was the last time a ref waived off a penalty because the ball was uncatchable? Almost never happens.

 

[DawnOfANewD]

...as NFL Commissioner, what would be the main items on your agenda?

1. I would orchestrate the move of the Saints to Los Angeles. It just makes sense to have a team in the #2 TV Market. I think the team needs a makeover and fresh start. They virtually don't have a home..

I don't think the Saints would have a home either in Los Angeles since it doesn't have an NFL-ready stadium. The Coliseum Stadium is not worth refurbishing, it needs to be razed:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Memorial_Coliseum

"...Although the Coliseum is an important historical sports venue, it is regarded by some as no longer adequate to be the home of a major professional sports organization. Since it was designed before the age of club seats, luxury boxes, and many of the other money-generating amenities that modern football stadiums possess, any professional team moving to the Coliseum will likely have to do extensive renovations. Los Angeles county voters are generally uninterested in appropriating tax revenues toward a new stadium, which would put the costs of renovation on any future tenant. Another factor is its location at the edge of South Los Angeles, which is perceived by many potential fans as a somewhat unsafe part of the city, although the area is considerably safer today than it was when the stadium housed two NFL teams..."

 

[StanleySpadowski]

1. Buy the Saints and Cardinals or Jaguars and contract them. All players become free agents but the NFL guarantees their contracts. If a player with a 3 yar $10 million dollar deal only gets a 3 year $8 million deal on the open market, the NFL ponies up the $2 million difference.

2. Recognize that many people of lesser means are also fans. Bring back the free internet radio, make a bleacher type section mandatory in every stadium with at least 1,000 tickets available for $20 or less.

3. Totally revamp the rule book. May the chop block illegal, do away with the horsecollar rule because it's almost never called, major and minor PI.....

4. Re-broadcast every NFL game from the previous season at least once during the offseason on the NFLN.