Banks: “It is hurting the game. This one is a little bit over-officiated because of the technology. Now they’re at a crossroads where the technology is available and they have made a ruling on some things and now all of a sudden they don’t even want to acknowledge the technology to correct the official. The thing that is impacting is that the game is growing at a pace and this is seen deliberate by the league. They’re inviting more fans because they’re giving them more avenues and more angles meaning, you know, things that they can do to get interested in the game and the peripheral fan now is becoming more interested because you can play fantasy football, because you can bet on the game. So if you’re going to have those fans and you’re growing your game at this pace and you’re generating more interest then you have to maintain the integrity of what you’re doing and if you don’t, you’re inviting people to say, ‘hey these games aren’t on the up and up,’ and there’s going to be a thousand conspiracy theories because you’re not being consistent even with the rules you put in place, you don’t even want to allow those to work.”
I had an Army boss who said something that I think of with this NFL officiating crap show... "Don't rush to ascribe malice to a situation where incompetence can otherwise be suspected."
The problem time and again with that angle is fringe fans don't remain loyal, and if you lose the base, the sport starts to see serious issues in attendance, viewership, apparel sales.
If it weren't for fantasy football, we'd probably already see a steep decline.
You have part-time 60+ year old guys out there.
- Same teams year after year winning (Patriots)
- Image problems - Murderers, rapists, child abusers, CTE
- Empty stadiums - Corporations raking in tickets making it affordable for normal people
The problem time and again with that angle is fringe fans don't remain loyal, and if you lose the base, the sport starts to see serious issues in attendance, viewership, apparel sales.
If it weren't for fantasy football, we'd probably already see a steep decline.
Been saying this for years. While attracting the ladies and the nerds they are losing their mainstays. I know former die hard fans who do not even watch the Giants anymore. I don't know how many games I have turned off the last three years. I can admit I am addicted to the Giants but that addiction is waning.
He's gone from watching games all day Sunday to even when he's in the room during games, to being on his phone, instead of really watching, and once there's a bad call, he goes out with his friends to play basketball.
If I tried to play basketball on Sunday afternoons back in the day, I'd be by myself on the court.
Maybe they ascribe to the theory that there is no such thing as bad press, and love all the discussion of bad calls and conspiracy theories? Just look at any thread on BBI and you will see folks who believe the refs actively seek to help one team win. That is only going to become more commonplace.
It seems like with pass interference the concepts are mushy ergo the tech might not help.
If this is the rule you lived by of what use was the rule? ""
Maybe someone wants to paste in the pass interference language from the rule book and we can clean up the language
The league's attempt to create rules to help scoring, prevent injury, etc etc has also ruined the game. Not that we want players to get hurt because we dont. All of these additional rules mean officials are looking at more things than they used to all at the same time and flags are flying more than ever.
The league's attempt to create rules to help scoring, prevent injury, etc etc has also ruined the game. Not that we want players to get hurt because we dont. All of these additional rules mean officials are looking at more things than they used to all at the same time and flags are flying more than ever.
I agree, the rulebook itself needs to be redone. Of course having competent officials is needed as well, but the root cause of what we're seeing is the rules themselves
Casual fans are brought up as an excuse for shitty announcing?
No. The NFL tries to attract the fringe fans. Having games in London. Increasing scoring artificially by neutering the defenses. Thursday Night Games. The push to attract more female fans.
Those fans have a certain level of interest that fades pretty quickly. Meanwhile the core group of fans gets more and more pissed.
Look at NASCAR with implementing the "Chase". By trying to go mainstream.
That;s a really good parallel. A lot of transparency, and not much controversy.
The TMO provides feedback to the referee, usually within a minute. Talk about fan friendly, the referee is not only mic'd up, but during matches he's often wearing a camera on his headgear...
He's gone from watching games all day Sunday to even when he's in the room during games, to being on his phone, instead of really watching, and once there's a bad call, he goes out with his friends to play basketball.
If I tried to play basketball on Sunday afternoons back in the day, I'd be by myself on the court.
100% My 24yo is about as casual fan as you can be and my 11yo couldn't care less about the NFL. They are both athletes. They have tons of athlete friends and I can count on one hand how many of their friends care about the NFL. This sport is in trouble on many levels.
And one of the other female fringe fans I know (wife of one of my buddies who doesn't watch the NFL any more) thought that all the players just ran around and did what they wanted on every play until I burst her bubble on that one.
Me, I'm one of those former hard core fans who doesn't even watch much any more. I haven't seen a complete NFL game in probably three seasons. I can't turn on a game without being totally repulsed by the shitty officiating and crappy level of play in general compared to what it used to be. I'd much rather watch a CFL game these days.
The onus is on the league to not have a completely contradictory and arbitrary process involving the technology means they have on hand
It starts to beg the question..Why am I watching this shit?
The league's attempt to create rules to help scoring, prevent injury, etc etc has also ruined the game. Not that we want players to get hurt because we dont. All of these additional rules mean officials are looking at more things than they used to all at the same time and flags are flying more than ever.
YES!
I see an inverse correlation between the increasing amount of detailed regulations and the use of common sense in adjudicating those rules. (This is especially evident in our modern legal system and in regulatory agencies.)
"The letter of the law" is so complex that most cops, judges, inspectors and referees no longer know what's in the "book" and as a result they no longer reply on simple judgement for fear some obscure "rule" is going to come back and bite them.
If all those special roughing rules for QBs were abolished and QBs were treated like any other ball carrier, the game would change, probably in ways the league doesn't want. But the game is changing anyway, and not in good ways.
The other safety rules are somewhat impractical but those seem to me to be especially tough for everyone involved, including us fans.