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I'm so pissed off at the League. I have to go to a sports bar to watch regular season games, because they let Direct TV have a monopoly set-up with regard to Sunday Ticket. I've actually managed to come to terms with that, and am willing to do the same thing for the pre-season, but (of course) Sunday motherfucking Ticket doesn't do preseason...and now this s***:

I can't listen to pre-season games over the f**** radio!!! Any other time, I can listen to 92.9 dave fm for FREE on the internet. When the Falcons are on, however, the normally free service takes me to a different page that says:

Hello Fan,
I'm glad that you are a loyal NFL customer, and spend your hard earned cash on our product. It is my regret that I'll have to ask for some extra cash to allow you to listen to your team's meaningless pre-season games, on what is normally a free medium. Please send me $30, and kindly lick my balls.

f*** You Hard,
-Roger Godell
xxxooo


p.s. I raped your mother and kicked your dog...and vice versa

This is such bullshit. I f**** hate the NFL!

Go Falcons!

If you hate the NFL now, just wait to see what happens in the next 5 years.

Why? What's the plan? At this point I wouldn't even be shocked if they changed all games to a pay-per-view format, and charged a royalty fee every time I wear a jersey in public.

Yes indeed, how dare a business make money.

W

I understand that Wease, but there is a fine line, and I think the NFL is in serious danger of crossing it. Granted, I and most people on this site are pathetic die-hards that will watch every game even if Goodell wakes us up with a sweaty tea-bag every morning. It's not us the NFL has to worry about, it's the middle of the road fans. You know...the people that only watch for fantasy fb purposes, the college fb fan that has nothing better to do on a hungover Sunday, the people who are just looking for an excuse to down some brews at noon, the akward stepdad that needs to find a way to bond with boys whos mom he's banging, etc... I'm sure these folks make up quite a piece of the NFL audience pie, and I don't think they're invested enough to spend the cash. These folks could really burn the league, if the league gets too cute with the pan-handling. IMO.

No Swayze, for one simple reason. The game has become a cultural phenomenon that has grown to levels that will not be affected by the League's desire to make make even more money. People are "zoned in" to the action, the pre-game......the pre-pregame....the money and time invested in the sport is amazing. People even experience withdrawal symptoms when it is all over.The associations and peer pressure to be a fan...(and a damn good fan at that), is also driving the participation in the peripheral areas of the game. The only thing that could destroy the momentum is a prolonged strike. But even that won't stop the NFL for long.

That makes sense. I guess my only argument to that would be: The league is going to make it so that average Joe just plain can't afford to be a fan. Regardless of peer pressure and/or yearning for the product, if a guy doesn't have the money there's nothing he can do about it. And, with today's financial f***-all, I think a lot of would be fans fall into the "just plain don't have the money" demographic. So, maybe the league can squeek out a few more pennies by excluding those folks, but will the profits be substantial enough to justify enduring the public backlash? I'm sure the NFL's finance dept is trying to answer that as I type. It just seems like a dick move to me.

Just like drug use...cigs, and other addictive items, people will always find the money. People already have NFL House Parties to share the cost of the Sunday Ticket...and even time share season ticket arrangements. The NFL isn't going to be worried until the bottom line is affected. Like any product, the NFL will continue to target the people who can pay for it.

What's coming swayze is the continued "pussification" of professional football in not making it a real contact sport, citing player safety. Ultimately players will be softer, richer, and much bigger d-bags than they are today.

Not to mention the labor issues. I don't think a lockout will happen, but it's a bigger possibility than probably your average joe realizes. It'll be another case of fans being distraught over their favorite players wanting $20 million instead of $10 million.

But BB is right, fans will still retain loyalty if not begrudgingly. Your average joe will not cease being a fan, whether he can't afford it or not. Directv and PSLs will continue to screw fans over, but it won't stop them from still enjoying their game or following your team. You can take the fan out of the stadium, but not the stadium out of the fan. Or something like that.

It's only going to get worse. America's already going to hell because there's a black man in the White House and he's not serving coffee. Didn't think the NFL would survive did you?

He'll never be a successful QB.

You know, I watched the same thing happen with the Record Industry, it's now happening to Film, and it will bite the NFL in it's collective ass.

Like BB says, you create a demand for a product like this, and someone will figure out a way around it...Methinks the NFL is realizing it's days are numbered in it's monopolistic approach, but for now it's easier to strong arm litigate and get it's $$. Just like in Europe, you can 'block out' a 'soccer' game, but you can find bootlegs of the game 3 hours post, so people 'listen' to the match on the radio, then buy the DVD from folks who recorded and burned it.

I;m kinda shocked the NFL isn't more up to speed considering how they have dealt with other aspects of the medium. Honestly, they should have ON Demand NFL on right now: the tech is there,IMHO.

The "pussification" of the sport (/hat tip George Carlin BTW) is because the players are so much bigger and stronger than before but that has not changed some of the "flaws" of human physiology. A human knee can only bend in certain directions. The brain can only slosh around so much before, well, not working. What made sense while O linemen were 235 lbs and linebackers were 200 lbs are unnecessarily risky when they are 325 and 245 lbs today.

Until the saftey equipment can keep up with the physical devlopment, I think you will have to expect changes to protect the players.

Wease, it's not really about player safety. It's a convenient reason that makes sense at face value. But it's just about money.

As an owner, I've got $90 million invested in my QB. I don't want some punk ass 4th tier safety hitting him in the knee 3 minutes into the 1st quarter of the 1st game of the season and costing him the season, and more than likely our chances at making the playoffs, and a significant chunk of my revenue stream.

Look, it's certainly nice that most of the players of today (and the future) won't be suffering head injuries and be able to get up out of their rocking chair on their patio when they're 58. Now, the $17 million they made over the course of their career instead of being spent on hospital bills and surgeries, can now be spent on new rims, a $4 million house, that new GF that he has on the side, and if anything is left, maybe my daughter can go to college.

It's nice that the league has gotten right to concussions and other traumatic brain injuries (now if we could only get the VA to follow their example), but it's about money. Don't touch the QB, he's making too much money!

Healthy players are money makers. It is both.

It's about money. I'd be interested to see how long term health issues effect football players versus, say, construction workers. The latter group are easier to find...and replace.