That comment exactly depicts why sometimes writing in these forums, either readers don't fully read or comprehend what that post was intended to point out. Let me put this more plainly: The ads that these networks so efficiently place/stuff in these NFL broadcasts as much as gamely possible, has IMO.....yes in my opinion, invaded on the time to fit instant replays in situations that am am used to viewing some long time past....you may have not noticed it, but I have. Commercials bother me? That's a very hazy claim, as you try to point out. . The argument here is "Excessive", isn't it? And as one poster here pointed out, fans that attend the games have been annoyed with the abundance of ref injected timeouts that allow for the station breaks to be aired. Just be aware that things get worse before they get better. The business model? That went in the toilet once the networks decided to pay all that money for the rights to televise. That's like asking the US Gov. for a business model to solve the national debt......never gonna happen, at least not in my lifetime.
Ok, that it explains everything...... making stink over your former employees...... This thread was intended for those to give their thoughts on what is wrong with the NFL. I gave mine. I never said I have the solution nor the quick fix for what I think is wrong......and this is just my OPINION....... You worked for sports television so you are better qualified than me to know what the problems/solutions are. Here's something for you to ponder: NFL game times are typically 3 hrs long give or take - counting the 15 minute halftime break. These are rules that go way way back to the 50's/60's...maybe even earlier. Now, lets take a program from that era, say, Gunsmoke, for arguments sake. Gunsmoke is a 60 minute program WITH commercials. Typical during that time, the length of a commercial break was about 2 - 2 and half minutes. There would be about 4-5 breaks average. If Gunsmoke started at 9pm it HAD to end at 10pm to allow for the next scheduled broadcast..To watch a program like that today, I've noticed that what some cable stations have been doing is to extend the air time of Gunsmoke to another 5 minutes , beyond the norm, to fit in more commercials. I know of one cable channel that doesn't do this, but, by not extending, they just cut into the actual program itself. That also goes for movies....see how SYFY or AMC sneak in all their commercials during movie airing. I know of many movies that used to be alloted 2 hours, including commercials......today it's now 2.5 hours.......who knows what they'll do next? Here's another point .....back when Gunsmoke was aired neither me nor my parents paid a plumb nickel to watch ANY program on TV. If we supported a network by buying one of their advertised products, so bet it. Today, I'm paying a monthly rate for cable...as most do...and I'm not sure I'll be doing it that much longer....I have other options,....if I'm going to be subjected to constant breaks/interruptions, might as well do it for less.
Interesting that you should think the reader would comprehend your frustration with what you perceive as fewer replays when you failed to mention replays at all. My impression is that we see more replays today than we ever have. Apparently your argument is that advertising is excessive - fine but I don't see any way that changes in the foreseeable future. Certainly the business model has changed and will continue to evolve as the networks and the NFL look to maximize profits but will never be discarded as you say it has been. The NFL, being privately held, is doing this because they want to make more money and the networks, being publicly owned, have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders to make as much money as possible - that's not going to change, at least not in my lifetime.
Fine, lets agree to disagree. I think it's going to get worse before any improvement....and I agree, not in our lifetime. Here's something to ponder - CBS's business plan at work...: http://nextshark.com/millionaire-ceo-of-cbs-refuses-to-tip-valet-because-he-only-had-100s/ edit: ok maybe the CEO is a good sport, but if I were worth $300 mil, i would have acted a bit differently.
You can watch NFL games for free. All it takes is a tv set and an antennae. Gunsmoke re-runs cost money. That's just the way it is.
Duh, really? Gee thanks for pointing that out! You know what? I'm going to go by the assumption that posters here are just too young to really care to the point where they just don't know any better. And that is sad. And too test that theory out , most here probably were not around or barely sucking their thumbs when a very unique and eventful game took place in 1980 between the Jets and the Dolphins. Hint : The NFL was desperate to try this little stunt to draw viewers to a meaningless game. You can guess but, I'm sure if you google, it will come up. That's all I have to say on this subject.
Dude. I'm 62 years old. I've been doing television since it went color. If you have anything intelligent to say on the subject at hand...Well say it. Right now all I'm seeing is a grumpy old guy complaining about the good old days. Let me buy you a Zune for your birthday. You deserve it.
I think the NFL should stream through Netflix, no commercials, fast-forwarding through live games, break the speed limit... Yeah, that's the ticket, I could work with that.
The only horrible sequence is touchdown, extra point, TV timeout, kickoff, TV timeout, and god forbid you have a quick three and out and it's three commercial breaks in 7-10 minutes. Outside of that, I think any sort of whining about commercial breaks is silly. They're not that big of a deal. It's a bigger deal for sports like the NHL and MLB and are struggling for ratings as it is. The competitive balance or lack thereof is a bigger deal, and the problem with it as many have alluded to is the inability to be a competitive playoff team without a top 5 quarterback in the league that season. One sort of simplistic quick fix? Don't make defensive holding automatic first downs. Make it a five yard penalty and that's it. I've also been screaming for there being a booth official with a headset into the earpiece of the head official. I know you're playing with fire especially along the offensive line in that holding can be called on every play there. But have them only focus on potential pass interferences. Also. Allow handfighting down the field, and the old handcheck from basketball. Receivers get away with it, while they always call defensive backs if the ball isn't caught for doing the same thing. Defensive backs need to be able to at the very least feel where receivers are. They have no chance if an official starts calling that pass interference early in the game.
Worse scenario: End of a half, a team gets into kicking range and uses a timeout to stop the clock. Lines up to kick, other team calls timeout to ice the kicker. Kick is made, TV time out. Kickoff, TV time out. I feel like this happens about a billion times in the month of November, once the playoff push starts and teams get more conservative.
Man, you need to chill out bro....your're 62? Don't have a heart attack from reading one person's opinion. This is not worth it.
Anybody following my posts on this thread will already know that I'm super conservative on this issue, so this won't come as a surprise: I agree with everything in the quoted post, but I'd take it one step further--do away with the Mel Blount rule all together. Until recently, the rule made sense and opened up the game, but now that the NFL has basically made it illegal for a Safety to do anything other than run ball carriers down from behind, pass defense has become a joke. Make offenses choose between the run and the long bomb--the dink-and-dunk short pass attacks almost every team employs today are boring.
long term is a tricky thing. I mean would you consider the pats set long term at QB? brady is 39, but in the same sense garoppolo looked good in his limited time playing as well and is young. Or a team like the cowboys. looked pretty short term with romo but now dak was playing amazing and is their future. they seem set for the next 10 years all of a sudden but what if dak regresses? Long term is rarely a reality in the NFL. If i take all the really good looking QBs under 30 Cam Newton. Russell Wilson, Derek Carr, Andy Dalton, Andrew Luck, Dak Prescott, Kirk cousins, Matt Stafford, Sam Bradford. Thats 9 teams with QBs that are probably set for the next 5-7 years then you have some early 30s Qbs like Matt Ryan and Aaron Rodgers So thats 2 more in the 5 year range Now throw in the older guys like brady, brees, ben, rivers, palmer. They are probably still good for 2 maybe 3 more years each so thats 5 more guys. thats 16 right there then you have some young newly drafted Qbs like marriotta, winston, bortles, wentz, goff So 5 more with potential to be really good now we are at 21 Then some teams with decent veteran Qbs that aren't gonna change for a few years like flacco, manning, tannehill, smith, probably throw taylor in this list despite rumors that puts us at 26 meaning 6 teams are actively looking for QBs Jets, Browns, Bears, Texans, niners, broncos texans just made the playoffs and gave brock like 18 mil a year. yeah he was bad but they aren't gonna give up on him. So really 5 teams that will be looking at QBs in FA and the draft. You have 2 wild cards in romo and cutler. some teams will take a chance on them. I could see denver making a run at romo. they have the defense and run game and WRs. If that happens we have 4 teams in need of a QB with cutler out there and maybe some other guys (glennon, bridgewater) someone could take a flyer on. The QB situation in the NFL isn't that bad. lots of teams are content at the position.
Calling a 62 year old man "bro" made me lol. Here's the worst for me - End of a half, a team gets into kicking range and uses a timeout to stop the clock. lines up to kick, other team calls timeout to ice the kicker. Kick is made, TV time out. Kickoff-touchback (because we don't want anyone to get hurt), TV time out. That's like 10 minutes of nothing right there!
FG's are almost automatic these days. They should change the Icing the Kicker process to fix that. Instead of calling a timeout let the opposing head coach throw ice cubes at the kicker during the play. The helmet will stop serious injuries from happening and I really want to see Bill Belichik showing us how to throw ice cubes at the same rate an Uzi fires...
