It may seem like a ridiculous thought, but think about it. In the 70s, the Steelers, Cowboys, Dolphins, and Raiders were in the Super Bowl quite a bit - most of the decade had one or more of those teams in the Super Bowl. Hence, there are an inordinate amount of fans of a certain age who follow those teams in the NY area when you consider there are two teams to choose from here. Why? Because those teams were on Monday Night Football all the time because of their success in the postseason, and when you have a captive audience (MNF, Cowboys on Thanksgiving, the playoffs, the Super Bowl), younger kids become fans of the teams they see - particularly when the local teams are bad. The Jets only gained enough fan interest because Joe Namath dragged so many young men (and women, I'm sure) into the fold and those people were able to drag their kids into the fold for a couple of generations. Without Namath, the Jets (and the AFL) probably fold and the NFL looks completely different than it does today. But I think we can all agree that the Jets are lucky the Giants were as abysmal as they were in the 70s, Namath was able to hold the fan interest for a few years, and those people were able to keep younger kids interested by osmosis for awhile. The Jets had enough successful seasons from the early 80s to the late 2000s to maintain some of the interest, but that has really swung the other way. Fast forward from the 70s - in the 80s, the 49ers, then the Patriots - now the Chiefs - all have far more fans in the area than they did prior to that. Why? Because kids see them all the time and inheriting the team your father is a fan of isn't as much of a lure as it used to be. Add in the fact that as time has gone on, the NFL has done a remarkable job of marketing PLAYERS, and kids follow players more than they ever did. This is more pronounced in the NBA, but the NFL isn't far behind and both are far more player-oriented than the other two major sports. Now, let's talk about today. The Jets have been a complete clownshow, a laughing stock for about 8 years, and before that were a very bad team for a few years. While all that was happening, the rise of streaming platforms, the NFL package on DirecTV (and now even more accessible with YouTube TV), social media, 24-hour access to sports, 1000 sports shows, blogs, influencers, etc - and it's more about players than teams than it ever was before. And kids have access to any teams they want - and where do they migrate? The good teams who they see all the time, OR teams with dynamic players. Many times both. I see so many kids wearing multiple team jerseys because of the players than ever before. My own kids will buy jerseys when we go to road games - NBA, NFL, doesn't matter. They root team first, but don't hate other teams like we all did growing up. The Jets have had very few, if any, marketable players over the past couple of decades. Bad teams, no players that really attract the attention of kids, and an owner who treats the fans like shit to the point where season ticket holders are walking away in droves. What young kids (aside from the few who still inherit it from their dads) are going to become Jets fans? NONE outside the area, very few in the area, and with the Giants having a franchise QB and now a top-notch coach, what few kids who don't migrate to teams in other areas will chose the Giants. The Jets have been a black hole for this kinda thing for nearly a generation now. The Namath influence is gone at this point and there's been no one to take that torch. And with the grandfathers and fathers being beaten into apathy by the franchise both on and off the field, their passion doesn't translate into young fans nearly as often. If the Giants become a perennial force again soon, as many of us expect, interest in the Jets could dwindle down to the point where sustaining the franchise becomes very difficult to nearly impossible within the next generation - 20 years-ish. I don't see the Jets turning this around anytime soon - they are stuck in too much of a Groundhog Day loop - and it's likely that they end up moving the franchise somewhere else. Folding is possible as well, but I don't see any NFL team actually going out of business. Relocation is far more likely. Bottom line, in today's NFL, the Jets are not just in danger of being a bad team anymore - they're on the verge of becoming completely irrelevant. Sent from my SM-X820 using Tapatalk
In 25 years most of my busted body will probably be replaced with artificial parts.... so I will most likely be chilling in a rockin chair too high to give a shit.
The Jets won't go out of business. It's not possible for an NFL team to go out of business. Woody bought the team for $635 million and they're worth about $9.1 billion now. That's an astronomical increase in value despite being a dumpster fire of a franchise for much of that time. Relocation might be possible, but then again, what city would want this dumpster fire just raging within their city limits? Most likely scenario is that it just reaches the point where the league really just has 31 teams and the Jets are just kind of there taking up space. Kind of like now, but much worse.
As you say, the much more relevant question is whether tackle football will exist in 25 years, not whether the Jets will.
The Jets will exist, but will they exist under Woody and playing with Giants is the question at metlife
Serious answer… With the way things are going now, will there even be 50 states in 25 years? If things continue to trend the way they are I highly doubt it which means there may not even be an NFL. If all things stay the same it will be irrelevant, from my perspective, as I won't be rooting for this team beyond 2027/28 at the current rate. As it is, I'm having a very real conversation as to whether I'll survive past 2026. So done with this jack ass fuckwad of an organization that is as poorly run as any business I have ever seen, read of or heard of.
The franchise prints an unbelievable amount of cash. Tickets, PSLs, Merch all totals up to a rounding error compared to the TV money. Even if every Jets fan went away, other team's fans will still want a reason to come to the big city for a long weekend and watch their team win.
Not that it’ll ever happen here, but this is where something like Relegation to a lower league would at least provide some motivation for these bottom feeder teams to actually try and get better. And for all the talk of a draft lottery (which I absolutely hate), if you really wanted to do something about tanking, this would be a much better system. Then you can expand to a few more teams and have a minor league going Interesting thought, but the owners and these valuations I think would never let that happen…Woody would not be earning that kind of money if the Jets were perennially in the minors, which is where they absolutely would be with him running the show I don’t really watch Premier League soccer so I don’t know if the whole relegation thing actually works out in real life, but I know they have it…
Another 25 years will take me to around my life expectancy. The Jets 6 x Super Bowl winning dynasty will commence shortly after my death.
It does but there’s no salary cap - so the system just selects for the wealthiest teams that can buy a title. It would work really well for the Jets and less so for, say, the Jaguars.
Yah…thanks The owners would never implement a system like this for many reasons, but especially for the financial losses that would occur on relegation…and we don’t really have a minor league…the colleges serve that function here so yeah…interesting thought but never a real option here
Without a doubt they will exist. Money and the NY market are the two biggest reasons why. The only change may be a different family owning them. Hopefully.
To answer the question of the OP, if there is ever some sort of requirement for teams winning then maybe the Jets will fold, but if the Jets can keep becoming a more valuable franchise without ever actually being competitive, why would they ever be in danger? Maybe there's some hope, since they fell off the Forbes top 10 list for most valuable sports franchises on the planet at a paltry 8.1 billion.
Idk guys I saw somewhere attendance figures from the 2025 season all added up and our Jets were 3rd or 4th overall. Undoubtedly we know these figures were boosted in 2025 by marquee opponents with fans that travel well (Pittsburgh and Dallas both at home) but nonetheless if the suits were looking for healthy franchises they would look at those that sell tickets and the Jets would be a proud leader and not a team that's about to cease operations or get kicked out the club by the way one surprise from that list: The Bears were dead last and a mile behind our Jets and they had themselves a successful season on the field!!!
Met Life has the most seats and Solider has the fewest. Having 20k fewer seats hurts when you are finally good.
