"Fixing" the National Football League's Political Problem

Regardless of which side of the fence you stand on in regards to the current national anthem/NFL flap, one thing I think we can mostly all agree on is that the NFL is a collective which moves massive amounts of money around the country. Taken as a whole entity, Forbes estimates the combined net worth of the 32 teams is $75 Billion, and that's just team values... if the "shield" itself was valued, I can only assume it would add billions of dollars to the combined worth of the teams. Through the years, a decision by Congress has been the primary mechanism which has allowed the league to grow this massive. Also through the years, the league's "donation happy" lobby arm in DC has kept politicians happy and that decision secure... what was that decision? The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961.
en.wikipedia.org...

The Sports Broadcasting Act was passed in response to a court decision which ruled that the NFL's method of negotiating television broadcasting rights violated antitrust laws[2]. The court ruled that the "pooling" of rights by all the teams to conclude an exclusive contract between the league and CBS was illegal.

The Act overrules that decision, and permits certain joint broadcasting agreements among the major professional sports. It recognizes the fact that the various franchises in a sports league, while competitors in the sporting sense, are not as much business competitors as they are interdependent partners, whose success as enterprises is intertwined, as a certain level of competitive balance between them must exist for any of them to remain viable enterprises. Therefore, it permits the sale of a television "package" to a network or networks in which the league members share equally, a procedure which is common today. Of the four major North American professional team sports, the Act is most pertinent to the NFL, as all of its regular-season and playoff games are covered by the rights assigned by its various packages with the networks, including its own.

Since then, the NFL has largely operated as an assumed government blessed monopoly, strong arming competing leagues out of television contracts through threats against networks, blocking the use of tax-payer funded stadiums by competing leagues, and via lobbying Congress to "discourage" an environment conduscive to competition. They lobbied successfully to have federal gambling rules changed because fantasy football and internet sports betting was seen as a potential revenue boost to the league, drawing in people who otherwise don't care much about the game. The teams have received nearly $7 Billion in tax subsidies over the past 20 years to build stadiums with contracts that give the majority of the profits to the league and home team owner, while saddling the communities with much of the operating costs. profootballtalk.nbcsports.com... These stadiums have become a prime example of political extortion, with teams demanding new stadiums, breaking existing leases without consequence, and threatening to leave town if the communities don't build them their new palaces.

Until 2 years ago, the NFL had a special tax exempt status... which they voluntarily gave up in little more than a PR stunt during a period of public outcry against the league's handling of players who were domestically abusing their wives and girlfriends. The league feared its antitrust exemptions would come into question, so they sacrificed the less lucrative tax exemption to save the rest of their golden goose.
www.huffingtonpost.com...

The National Football League is a private, commercial entity... as such, they certainly have every right to handle political matters as they see fit. That said, since they have chosen to put themselves in a position contrary to the traditionally social issue neutrality professional sports leagues have adopted over the past 30 years, they should not retain their special dispensations beyond the standards granted to any private corporation. In other words, the NFL is no longer "special" and should no longer be treated in any special manner. The politicians in DC who are troubled by the league's behavior, by their illegal-if-any-other-corporation-tried-it tactics, by their controversial handling of national anthem protests, by their acceptance of major tax payer funding assistance all the while charging some of the highest rates in sports for tickets, and by their overall image issues should open the discussion now. They should ask a very simple question: "Why should the NFL receive special exemptions? What are they presently doing to deserve laws that essentially allow them to violate federal trust and monopoly regulations? Particularly in need of answering is "What has the NFL done for us lately?" I don't think Roger Goodell, the owners, or the players would like the answers to those questions... which means they should absolutely be asked sooner rather than later.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

Interesting stuff that!

I fixed my problem with the NFL.......I haven't watched any professional football in years. The reason? Its boring, its too predictive; the game play is not very good and these days practically every play draws a penalty and lost time. Baseball has actually sped up their game and is far more interesting, but.....that's just me.

Its just a guess but I'd suspect that the hey day of the NFL is in the rear view mirror.

...since they have chosen to put themselves in a position contrary to the traditionally social issue neutrality professional sports leagues have adopted over the past 30 years...

They didn't. It was thrust on them by a pompous president that used them to make points with his base. This benign protest was barely mentioned this year until Trump opened his big mouth to inflame the situation. It wasn't even a pimple before his words. Barely a blemish but now, due to HIM, we have a seeping boil.

originally posted by: TonyS
a reply to: burdman30ott6

Interesting stuff that!

I fixed my problem with the NFL.......I haven't watched any professional football in years. The reason? Its boring, its too predictive; the game play is not very good and these days practically every play draws a penalty and lost time. Baseball has actually sped up their game and is far more interesting, but.....that's just me.

Its just a guess but I'd suspect that the hey day of the NFL is in the rear view mirror.

I have to agree. I would pose the thought that 'old time players', much tougher mentally and physically, wouldn't dream of such an act, used their power and influence in helping various groups on their own initiative and time.

The much more self-absorbed players of today are part of the reason for lowered interest in the professional game by many. This is just another level. Very easy to watch baseball, or college football over the NFL.

a reply to: burdman30ott6


The NFL's problem? No one cared if players took a knee to protest police brutality and racism, until Trump made it all about him! Now, taking a knee is personal and protest against Trump himself.

Thanks Dotard Trump!

originally posted by: intrepid

...since they have chosen to put themselves in a position contrary to the traditionally social issue neutrality professional sports leagues have adopted over the past 30 years...

They didn't. It was thrust on them by a pompous president that used them to make points with his base. This benign protest was barely mentioned this year until Trump opened his big mouth to inflame the situation. It wasn't even a pimple before his words. Barely a blemish but now, due to HIM, we have a seeping boil.

Very true. This was not a political issue. It was a social issue and someone outside the NFL made it political.

originally posted by: windword
a reply to: burdman30ott6


The NFL's problem? No one cared if players took a knee to protest police brutality and racism, until Trump made it all about him! Now, taking a knee is personal and protest against Trump himself.

Thanks Dotard Trump!

That's revisionist at best, intentionally disingenuous at worst.
www.si.com...
www.news5cleveland.com...
www.sportingnews.com...

Google search fans angry nfl anthem protest with a custom time range that ends before Trump entered this conversation... This was a serious issue for the league and fans long before the POTUS spoke on it.

I have an easy solution:
The NFL is an acronym for NATIONAL Football League...

If you can’t stand in respect for 3 minutes to honor your nation then go join a different nation’s NATIONAL football league....
Problem solved...

-Chris

originally posted by: introvert

originally posted by: intrepid

...since they have chosen to put themselves in a position contrary to the traditionally social issue neutrality professional sports leagues have adopted over the past 30 years...

They didn't. It was thrust on them by a pompous president that used them to make points with his base. This benign protest was barely mentioned this year until Trump opened his big mouth to inflame the situation. It wasn't even a pimple before his words. Barely a blemish but now, due to HIM, we have a seeping boil.

Very true. This was not a political issue. It was a social issue and someone outside the NFL made it political.

That's not true.

It was political bfire trump, and I don't even blame the protestors for that necessarily.

Many very successful atheletes and coaches spoke out against trump.

Ncaa sports in addition to the NBA were boycotting North Carolina in ways over their bathroom law.

And even more than that, sports media has become almost exclusively left wing and political, firing people with conservative points of view and both trashing trump and pushing left wing political views.

Again, this isn't necessarily the fault of the prtestors, but people on the left have taken this protest and used it politically for a while now.

Trump definitely inflamed the situation, but it was already political.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

As I said elsewhere, one good that could come out of these protests is ending these subsidies from tax payers to billionaires.

This should have ended regardless of the anthem protests, but if that is the catalyst for ending them, so be it.

originally posted by: burdman30ott6
This was a serious issue for the league and fans long before the POTUS spoke on it.

Horsehockey. It was an issue before because you're always going to get blowback for rocking the boat. NOW it's a SERIOUS issue because of a loud mouthed shnook:

FML. See this is the type of crap I didn't want to see. Now that Trump trolled the NFL, and they acted upon it, now it will open up avenues for big brother. Trump you jerk, and thanks NFL for biting into his crap...Hope your happy when big brother starts firing you guys...

Roger Godell should be the first to get fired, for being a stupid idiot.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

And yet you didn't care about any of this a week ago. Until, in your opinion, they:

"[chose] to put themselves in a position contrary to the traditionally social issue neutrality professional sports leagues have adopted over the past 30 years"

So wouldn't it be just as fair to use loaded terms like "extortion" when it comes to your "fix?" You know, the whole "abide by the wishes of the authoritarian right and you can keep all these things I'm pretending to care about today — or else!"

I would also argue that you pulled the "traditionally social issue neutrality" nonsense out of your ass. Furthermore, I don't buy for a second that you're at all concerned with a lack of neutrality on social issues, as long as they're social issues that don't trigger people who whine from behind Confederate flag avatars about how other people choose to display their patriotism.

And where were you and all your concerns about "neutrality, blah blah blah" when Tim Tebow was making religious displays, on the field, in the middle of a game? I find that to be a social issue and I was offended by having "religion shoved down my throat! blah blah blah!"

a reply to: burdman30ott6

It's a manufactured and useful "crisis".

The book emphasizes that Russia must spread Anti-Americanism everywhere: "the main 'scapegoat' will be precisely the U.S."
In the United States:
Russia should use its special services within the borders of the United States to fuel instability and separatism, for instance, provoke "Afro-American racists". Russia should "introduce geopolitical disorder into internal American activity, encouraging all kinds of separatism and ethnic, social and racial conflicts, actively supporting all dissident movements – extremist, racist, and sectarian groups, thus destabilizing internal political processes in the U.S. It would also make sense simultaneously to support isolationist tendencies in American politics."

The Foundations of Geopolitics: The Geopolitical Future of Russia

a reply to: Grambler

It was political bfire trump, and I don't even blame the protestors for that necessarily.

I did not say anything about Trump. I said people outside the NFL made it political.

Many very successful atheletes and coaches spoke out against trump.

So? That doesn't have much to do with this issue really.

Ncaa sports in addition to the NBA were boycotting North Carolina in ways over their bathroom law.

What does that have to do with this issue?

And even more than that, sports media has become almost exclusively left wing and political, firing people with conservative points of view and both trashing trump and pushing left wing political views.

Again, irrelevant to my point.

Again, this isn't necessarily the fault of the prtestors, but people on the left have taken this protest and used it politically for a while now.

Now that's a bit dishonest. People on both sides of the spectrum have used this as a political tool.

Trump definitely inflamed the situation, but it was already political.

Wish he was smart enough to stay out of it.

originally posted by: intrepid

originally posted by: burdman30ott6
This was a serious issue for the league and fans long before the POTUS spoke on it.

Horsehockey. It was an issue before because you're always going to get blowback for rocking the boat. NOW it's a SERIOUS issue because of a loud mouthed shnook:

Gotcha, Trep... it's only "rocking the boat" if it is being done over something you either agree with or have no strong opposition to... but when someone you disagree with rocks the boat, Katie bar the door because now it's serious.

Whatever, my argument here goes well beyond the anthem flap. A major corporation is operating with ridiculous special concessions from the federal government, garnered thanks to lobbyist money spent in DC. THAT is a SERIOUS issue.

a reply to: windword
Are you claiming kaepernick was a Russian plant?

I own 4 cowboys season tickets...

If i see them kneel as a team at home during the anthem I will call the cowboys on Monday and inform them of my intention to NEVER purchase a ticket again...
Let alone the absurd amount I spend...

I will not be the only one...

-Chris

originally posted by: theantediluvian
a reply to: burdman30ott6

And yet you didn't care about any of this a week ago.

I stopped watching the NFL early last season and I posted about my disgust with the NFL on the anthem issue and on their special status last year. Your definition of "didn't care" seems a bit different than the standard.

originally posted by: burdman30ott6

originally posted by: intrepid

originally posted by: burdman30ott6
This was a serious issue for the league and fans long before the POTUS spoke on it.

Horsehockey. It was an issue before because you're always going to get blowback for rocking the boat. NOW it's a SERIOUS issue because of a loud mouthed shnook:

Gotcha, Trep... it's only "rocking the boat" if it is being done over something you either agree with or have no strong opposition to... but when someone you disagree with rocks the boat, Katie bar the door because now it's serious.

Nope. Again. I don't play that game. This wasn't a serious issue, few were protesting, until this week. Are you saying the escalation of this protest which now includes owners isn't due to Trump?

Whatever, my argument here goes well beyond the anthem flap. A major corporation is operating with ridiculous special concessions from the federal government, garnered thanks to lobbyist money spent in DC. THAT is a SERIOUS issue.

Then why didn't you bring it up before this week?