I'm not a Mark Cuban fan, but he had it right when he attached the old stock-market mantra to the NFL, "Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered." Cuban claims the oversaturation of the NFL is going to hurt it eventually. Perhaps, but I think there's far more to it than that.
It's still the beast of pro sports, but ratings are slipping and complaints are mounting.
The NFL is not great because it's football. There are lots of other varieties of football to watch -- various levels of college, CFL, Arena, etc -- and by and large, games become more than just a bit repetitive, respectively. Generally, we see the same general play, the same cadence, and the same basic set of results play out each weekend here, there, and everywhere. We've seen it. The TV is dripping in it.
What makes the NFL isn't just the elevated talent pool. It's the tradition and lineage we hunger for. We tune in to a random Colts-Chargers game, and we don't just see the game at hand. We know what that is, a matchup of a storied franchise of Unitas and Bert Jones and Peyton Manning that went through dark times through the 80s and 90s and got hammered for selecting Trev Alberts in the draft years after upsetting the Cowboys in Super Bowl V........against a team once known for Air Coryell and Chuck Muncie and John Hadl and letting Drew Brees walk when Philip Rivers was drafted. We see all of those teams, not just today's rosters.
The NFL is the NFL. It needs to remember how much that means. Too much tinkering is hurting the product, and not insignificantly. It's faltering.
Simple things, like these stupid "Color Rush" jerseys are ruining the immersion of watching a game. Soon, we'll be slammed in the face with pink for breast cancer awareness, followed by military day, followed by whatever else they invent in their minds to make money. Every weekend seems to have a different clothing theme to make the simple-minded rush out to spend money they don't have on things they'll wish they never bought. Never mind us.
Rumors still abound about a team in London, perhaps even Mexico, Canada, and Japan. It's a dream that none of us have, just a few suits in a conference room who have a disturbing indifference and lack of understanding.
Kickoffs are vanishing. Rules are under a constant flux with complicated catch rules, botched replays, and vague interpretations of ambiguity. The concussion protocol that makes no medical sense whatsoever. The players are at fault, too, with a constant stream of off-field incidents and violations, capped with this year's new rage, the Anthem protest. It's not a job anymore, it's a "platform".
Why can't it just be about NFL football again?
Then there's this oversaturation of Fantasy Football that not only clutters the TV screen, but seems to be affecting rules decisions by the NFL, which seems obsessed with making the 60+ point game the new normal. Apparently, kids and casuals don't stick around for a 17-13 game, so we have to get rid of those. Make it like Madden. Yuck.
The NFL needs to re-learn its sweet spot. Casual fans come and go. Nascar got huge in the 90s, and massive tracks with 200,000 seats were built. Now, those tracks sit largely empty on race day. The NFL should learn from such examples.
Note to the league: Cater to us, the longtime fans who know your league and it's heritage. Trust us to pass it on to our kids the way it was passed on to us. Your game and your league was tremendous just a few short years ago.
Stop trying to create and cram half-baked ideas down the throats of your next generation with tricked up uniforms, rules, graphics, themes, and other meaningless ideas that aren't improving the root of your product. Innovation is good, but think it through more and respect the fabric and history of your great game.
It's good to grow, so long as you remember who you are.
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