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NFL Random Thought of the Day

Report: Netflix will pay “about $75 million” each for Christmas games
Published May 15, 2024 07:07 PM

Now we know why the NFL changed its position on playing games on Christmas this year.

Via Jessica Toonkel of the Wall Street Journal, Netflix will pay “about $75 million” for each of the two Christmas games to be televised in 2024 — Chiefs at Steelers and Ravens at Texans.

The NFL reportedly started the bidding at $50 million, with a belief that the final price could be up to $100 million per game. The final number, as it often does, splits the difference.

Jill Goldsmith of Deadline.com explains that Netflix V.P. Spencer Wang, without confirming the number, compared the expense to other projects.

“I would characterize each game as roughly the size of one of our medium-sized original films,” Wang said Wednesday.

Of course, original films can be watched over and over and over. NFL games won’t get much re-air traction.

Still, Peacock learned after televising a playoff game in January that plenty of people who added the service kept it. Netflix will be counting on adding customers — and hoping to keep current customers from canceling.
For the NFL, it’s a $150 million windfall, less whatever concessions the league had to make to CBS and/or Fox for taking two games that otherwise would have been played, and televised, that weekend.
 
www.espn.com

Flores to take part in NFL's accelerator program

Brian Flores will be among the participants in the NFL's fifth accelerator program, an event hosted by the league to strengthen the pipeline of diverse candidates for front office and coaching positions.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
Last July, a federal judge ruled that Flores can proceed to trial with his claims against the league and three teams: the Denver Broncos, New York Giants and Houston Texans. The judge ruled last March that Flores must pursue his claims against the Dolphins through arbitration.
 
Right now I'm looking at a headline on the News that reads: NFL Distances Itself From Chief' Harrison Butler.

Now this obviously is about news concerning these three, but it also involves "politics".

So I wonder if this can be discussed on the forum, since "politics" is banned.

I'll chance a brief comment, but demands are being made that the Chiefs "dismiss Harrison Butler for Discriminatory Remarks". I won't risk anything more because it might get the post removed for being political.

From the headline it also seems the NFL may have gotten involved with a comment, but I haven't seen that yet.
 
Number19 said:
Right now I'm looking at a headline on the News that reads: NFL Distances Itself From Chief' Harrison Butler.

Now this obviously is about news concerning these three, but it also involves "politics".

So I wonder if this can be discussed on the forum, since "politics" is banned.
Click to expand...
Nope. We can discuss Harrison Butker the player all day long. A damn good kicker.

Harrison Butker the social critic? Not getting involved in that.
 
CloakNNNdagger said:
None of this is by "accident." :shades:

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Jets have seven standalone games in 11 weeks and two Sunday-to-Thursday turnarounds
Click to expand...
www.espn.com

Jets 'owe us one': NFL explains prime-time slate

The Jets landed a record number of prime-time games over the first three months of the 2024 season because the appeal of four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers was too great to ignore, the NFL said Thursday.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 
www.espn.com

The Tua decision: What Dolphins must consider on Tagovailoa contract -- and what's next in negotiations

How much would it take to keep Tua Tagovailoa for the long term, and is it worth it to the Dolphins?
www.espn.com www.espn.com
If the two sides can come to an agreement, the Dolphins will have accomplished what many NFL teams have failed to do over the past 10 years. In that span, all but five teams have spent a first-round pick on a quarterback. Of those 27 teams, 10 signed their first-round quarterback to a second contract.
 

Jeff Pash’s Retirement From NFL Leaves a Big Void at Roger Goodell’s Side​

The commissioner has succeeded in a role typically filled by lawyers because his general counsel has taken on so much.

Andrew Brandt | May 14, 2024​


To say Jeff Pash, who is now retiring from the NFL, was “only” the league’s general counsel, would be a disservice to his prominence and importance to the league over decades. He was so much more than that.

In a world where—you know my phrase—there will be lawyers, Pash stood out among the many in the industry working for leagues, owners and teams. Pash was a guiding hand not only for Roger Goodell, but also for the “members,” as owners are sometimes called in meetings. Goodell would often charge Pash with the responsibility of talking to owners—a group that never likes hearing they can’t get their way—about subjects that the owners just wanted to go away. Pash handled those difficult conversations professionally and tactfully.

Speaking of Goodell, he is the only commissioner among the four major American sports leagues—NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball—who is not a lawyer. Of course, there is a reason the other leagues have chosen a lawyer to lead them, amid this changing legal landscape. And there is also a reason Goodell thrives as commissioner despite not having a legal background. Some of that is Goodell’s skill in building consensus among ownership, but it was also the presence of Pash at his side. In some ways, Pash has been the “legal” commissioner, doing many of the things that Adam Silver (NBA), Gary Bettman (NHL) and Rob Manfred (MLB) are doing, just without the title.

There have been too many uncomfortable issues in which Pash has steered the league to list, but a few stand out.

A decade ago, the league faced a potential existential threat as thousands of concussion lawsuits alleged post-career brain trauma. Pash led the global settlement with more than 20,000 retired players, staving off litigation that could have cost billions. While it continues to surface from time to time, the concussion issue is no longer a threat to the NFL’s continued prosperity and popularity.

In another uncomfortable litigation, Pash encouraged settlement of a troubling case brought by the city of St. Louis, alleging the league was fast and loose with its own relocation guidelines in moving the Rams to Los Angeles. Pash knew what the owners would not like to hear: The facts were not good. It cost them $790 million, but could have cost many multiples of that after a jury trial that was set to begin.

And, of course, Pash led the league through countless player litigations, some involving many of the biggest names in the sport: Tom Brady, Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, Ezekiel Elliott and more. The upshot of all of those cases? The power of Goodell was strengthened.

Beyond his professional abilities, my lasting impression of Pash is that he treated everyone he met with the same respect and dignity as he treated owners. I remember times at NFL meetings when, as other senior NFL executives looked past me to find someone more important, Pash was happy to engage, to talk about our families and interests. He was so approachable that I remember thinking, That’s the NFL general counsel? That kindness is rare among leaders of a $20 billion a year business.

Pash’s retirement will not receive much attention in the everyday swirl of NFL news, but it leaves a big void at Goodell’s side. There will be lawyers, but there won’t be many like Jeff Pash.
THE REST OF THE STORY
 
Lucky said:
Nope. We can discuss Harrison Butker the player all day long. A damn good kicker.

Harrison Butker the social critic? Not getting involved in that.
Click to expand...
How about God'ells woke NFL. It is what it is and if it wasn't for BS'ing with you guys and college football/draft I wouldn't be watching the NFL and their money grubbing woke ways. As it is now, I don't watch nearly as much NFL football as I used too.
 
CloakNNNdagger said:

Jeff Pash’s Retirement From NFL Leaves a Big Void at Roger Goodell’s Side​

The commissioner has succeeded in a role typically filled by lawyers because his general counsel has taken on so much.

Andrew Brandt | May 14, 2024​


To say Jeff Pash, who is now retiring from the NFL, was “only” the league’s general counsel, would be a disservice to his prominence and importance to the league over decades. He was so much more than that.

In a world where—you know my phrase—there will be lawyers, Pash stood out among the many in the industry working for leagues, owners and teams. Pash was a guiding hand not only for Roger Goodell, but also for the “members,” as owners are sometimes called in meetings. Goodell would often charge Pash with the responsibility of talking to owners—a group that never likes hearing they can’t get their way—about subjects that the owners just wanted to go away. Pash handled those difficult conversations professionally and tactfully.

Speaking of Goodell, he is the only commissioner among the four major American sports leagues—NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball—who is not a lawyer. Of course, there is a reason the other leagues have chosen a lawyer to lead them, amid this changing legal landscape. And there is also a reason Goodell thrives as commissioner despite not having a legal background. Some of that is Goodell’s skill in building consensus among ownership, but it was also the presence of Pash at his side. In some ways, Pash has been the “legal” commissioner, doing many of the things that Adam Silver (NBA), Gary Bettman (NHL) and Rob Manfred (MLB) are doing, just without the title.

There have been too many uncomfortable issues in which Pash has steered the league to list, but a few stand out.

A decade ago, the league faced a potential existential threat as thousands of concussion lawsuits alleged post-career brain trauma. Pash led the global settlement with more than 20,000 retired players, staving off litigation that could have cost billions. While it continues to surface from time to time, the concussion issue is no longer a threat to the NFL’s continued prosperity and popularity.

In another uncomfortable litigation, Pash encouraged settlement of a troubling case brought by the city of St. Louis, alleging the league was fast and loose with its own relocation guidelines in moving the Rams to Los Angeles. Pash knew what the owners would not like to hear: The facts were not good. It cost them $790 million, but could have cost many multiples of that after a jury trial that was set to begin.

And, of course, Pash led the league through countless player litigations, some involving many of the biggest names in the sport: Tom Brady, Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, Ezekiel Elliott and more. The upshot of all of those cases? The power of Goodell was strengthened.

Beyond his professional abilities, my lasting impression of Pash is that he treated everyone he met with the same respect and dignity as he treated owners. I remember times at NFL meetings when, as other senior NFL executives looked past me to find someone more important, Pash was happy to engage, to talk about our families and interests. He was so approachable that I remember thinking, That’s the NFL general counsel? That kindness is rare among leaders of a $20 billion a year business.

Pash’s retirement will not receive much attention in the everyday swirl of NFL news, but it leaves a big void at Goodell’s side. There will be lawyers, but there won’t be many like Jeff Pash.
THE REST OF THE STORY
Click to expand...
Just another God'ell enabler.

Ruining football.
 
After more than 20 years, NFL Network’s Total Access shuts down
Published May 17, 2024 08:34 PM

Total Access is no more.

The signature studio show, a weeknight fixture on NFL Network since its inception, has ended its run. The final show was tonight.

Questions first swirled when the show disappeared from the schedule for a full week earlier this year. More recently, reports emerged based on a recent round of layoffs that the show was being shuttered.

At one point, it would have been inconceivable. Total Access was NFL Network. However, as the media landscape changed, the relevance of a nightly studio show diminished significantly. And, frankly, the show was never the same after Rich Eisen left.

The closure of Total Access happens at a time when Good Morning Football is two months into a bizarre hiatus, driven by the even more bizarre decision to uproot the show from New York and send it to Los Angeles.

These cost-cutting moves are happening against the backdrop of the league’s ongoing effort to unload NFL Network, presumably to ESPN. It never became what the league thought it would be, and it’s most valuable property — live regular-season games — could be sold to the highest bidder, likely generating more profit for the league than the network realizes by keeping the games..

It’s still unclear why ESPN would want NFL Network. The best reason could be to deepen the relationship with the league, making it inevitable that ESPN will continue to have a broadcast package when the next round of bidding happens, likely in time for the 2030 season. Having the league acquire equity in ESPN as part of that transaction would bolster that reality.

Regardless of whether future developments will propel NFL Network forward, it is in the midst of taking several conspicuous steps back. The human toll arising from the gutting of the network is, frankly, a bad look for a wildly popular and financially viable sports league.
 
An entity of Rules? Safety? Competitive fairness? None of these describes the NFL.

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NFL’s scheduling process ignores competitive balance
By Mike Florio
Published May 18, 2024 09:39 AM

The NFL’s justification for giving the Jets seven standalone games in 11 weeks — they “kind of owe us one” — was ill-advised. It also obscures a deeper issue with giving a third-place, non-playoff team so many non-Sunday-afternoon games.

The league loves competitive balance. That’s why the worst team gets the first pick in the draft, why teams have three games tied to where they finished in their division.

That’s not how the NFL schedules games. It does a projection based on which teams will generate the biggest ratings, regardless of what they did in the prior season. This year, the NFL’s projection regarding the Jets includes getting them in primetime early, before the wheels come off. Or before Aaron Rodgers blows another tire.

Of course, that approach won’t help keep Rodgers healthy. He has played four total snaps since his last game with the Packers in January 2023. Come September, he’ll play three games in 10 days to start the season. Twice in the first nine weeks, the Jets will play with only three days off in between games.

The league has resolved, for itself, the question of whether short-week football is a bad idea by hand-picking a statistic based on in-game injury rate with six days between games versus three. That ignores the question of how players’ bodies feel on Thursday, after playing on Sunday. (The NFL uses the same blinders as to the grass vs. turf issue; the injury rate is the same, so who cares if they have to crawl out of bed the morning after playing on turf?)

“Ask the players,” a head coach recently observed on the question of whether there’s a difference between Sunday-to-Sunday and Sunday-to-Thursday football.

The same source, who received anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, added this: “Another example of how player health and safety is talked about but easily compromised for money.”

In this specific case, it’s both health and safety AND competitive balance that are being compromised. Given the reasoning for the draft order and the determination of opponents, taking a third-place team and giving them seven standalone games in 11 weeks ignores the issue of competitive balance. It adds an undue burden to a non-playoff team from 2023.

Right or wrong, the league loves to level things out. It wants fans of all non-playoff teams to believe their team can get to the playoffs. But it also wants the highest possible ratings for every standalone window.

So to hell with competitive balance, as to the Jets. Because the Jets: (1) are in New York; (2) have Aaron Rodgers; and (3) tend to morph into a slow-speed train wreck, every year. Let’s load them up in national windows early — even if that greases the skids for the skid marks to come.

Jets fans should be upset. The Jets should be upset. Rodgers should be upset. They’re being victimized by the fact that people will want to watch them for the same reason they watch car racing.
For the inevitable crash.
 
Another example of NFL's "fair scheduling." :toropalm:

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Three other AFC teams, including two contenders, have more of a complaint about their schedule but were they “screwed?” First, AFC North rival Pittsburgh Steelers:

We all know the AFC North is a dog fight. It’s the league’s most competitive division, where any of the four teams could conceivably and convincingly win. That means balance is a razor’s edge, and an absolute sicko must have devised the final eight games of the Steelers’ schedule.
Week 11: Baltimore Ravens
Week 12: AT Cleveland Browns, on three day’s rest on Thursday Night Football
Week 13: AT Cincinnati Bengals, coming off TNF
Week 14: Cleveland Browns
Week 15: AT Philadelphia Eagles
Week 16: AT Baltimore Ravens
Week 17: Kansas City Chiefs, on four day’s rest on Christmas Day
Week 18: Cincinnati Bengals
Click to expand...
 
sports.yahoo.com

Here are 6 must-watch games for rookie QBs. Is the next C.J. Stroud among them?

The six QBs taken in the draft’s first 12 picks each will have their own unique path to being a rookie starter, not to mention a key game on the schedule that will tell us something about where they’re headed at the next level.
sports.yahoo.com sports.yahoo.com

The six QBs taken in the draft’s first 12 picks each will have their own unique path to being a rookie starter, not to mention a key game on the schedule that ...
 
www.espn.com

Private equity in the NFL? How team ownership might shift

A move to allow private equity firms to invest in NFL teams would represent a large shift in how the league has historically operated.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
A special committee of NFL owners has spent the past nine months investigating potential changes to league rules for team ownership, an attempt to grapple with a shrinking pool of potential team buyers amid soaring team valuations.
Owners will likely discuss -- and potentially vote on -- the committee's research and findings at league meetings in Nashville this week.

"They've been very deliberate in the way they've evaluated different alternatives," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in March. "We're making progress. I think there'll be some changes, maybe as early as May, probably closer to October."
 
JB said:
www.espn.com

Private equity in the NFL? How team ownership might shift

A move to allow private equity firms to invest in NFL teams would represent a large shift in how the league has historically operated.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
A special committee of NFL owners has spent the past nine months investigating potential changes to league rules for team ownership, an attempt to grapple with a shrinking pool of potential team buyers amid soaring team valuations.
Owners will likely discuss -- and potentially vote on -- the committee's research and findings at league meetings in Nashville this week.

"They've been very deliberate in the way they've evaluated different alternatives," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in March. "We're making progress. I think there'll be some changes, maybe as early as May, probably closer to October."
Click to expand...

Private equity firms with some ownership in the NFL? How soon will it take for those shareholders to demand a new QB? That would be interesting. :lol:
 
JB said:
www.espn.com

Chiefs' Morris, Godrick arrested for having pot

Chiefs offensive linemen Wanya Morris and Chukwuebuka Godrick were arrested Thursday night on misdemeanor possession of marijuana. They were released Friday after posting $2,500 bond.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
Click to expand...
This should no longer be a concern or issue for the NFL. At the federal level, marijuana has just been reclassified to a schedule 1. And I just read that Ohio has now legalized marijuana for recreational use.
 
Number19 said:
This should no longer be a concern or issue for the NFL. At the federal level, marijuana has just been reclassified to a schedule 1. And I just read that Ohio has now legalized marijuana for recreational use.
Click to expand...
It's still against the rules for the NFL. Those players will face at least a 4 game suspension
 
JB said:
It's still against the rules for the NFL. Those players will face at least a 4 game suspension
Click to expand...
Because the NFL hasn't had time to change their rules.

Why was marijuana banned in the first place and not alcohol? Perhaps the NFL could sanction players, not for the use of marijuans, but for getting arrested.

How can you possibly have players NOT BEING SANCTIONED in Ohio for smoking marijuana, but sanctioning players in Texas for doing so. I think the players union will object. And there may be a case for law suits against the NFL for doing so. It's clearly unconstitutional.
 
Number19 said:
Because the NFL hasn't had time to change their rules.

Why was marijuana banned in the first place and not alcohol? Perhaps the NFL could sanction players, not for the use of marijuans, but for getting arrested.

How can you possibly have players NOT BEING SANCTIONED in Ohio for smoking marijuana, but sanctioning players in Texas for doing so. I think the players union will object. And there may be a case for law suits against the NFL for doing so. It's clearly unconstitutional.
Click to expand...
In the federal government's mind it is still an illegal drug even though the classification has changed. Individual states laws have nothing to do with it
 
Although being minimized, too many avenues for more potential outside adverse control being able to quilckly creep into the NFL.............all in the name of more $$$$$$$$$$$$$.

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Will NFL resolve the lingering private equity issue this week?
Published May 20, 2024 06:41 AM

The only good problem is no problem. And the NFL currently has a very good problem that is also a big problem.

Franchise values have increased to the point where it’s hard to find people who can and will buy teams, either as majority owners or minority owners. As noted by Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com, it can be even harder to find minority owners, because those investors typically have no control whatsoever over the business — and often no path to control.

Enter private equity funds. A private equity fund is a pool of money from various rich people who are looking for financial return but not control. The NFL has been exploring this possibility for a while now. It could be resolved this week when the owners gather for their May meetings in Nashville.

There are concerns. Rothstein reports on some of them, citing an unnamed source “with understanding of the
operations of the league and how team finances work.”

One, can the same fund have equity in multiple teams? It would be weird, to say the least, for the same group of investors to own a piece of, say, the Chiefs and the Raiders. And the issue of split loyalties wouldn’t be the biggest concern. Equity funds always think strategically, and financially. In the Chiefs vs. Raiders scenario, the fund will be rooting for the team that is more likely to generate a better financial outcome.

Two, can a fund that invests in gambling entities invest in NFL teams? Already, the league allows owners to hold up to five percent of a company with sportsbook operations. What if an equity fund owns more than that, along with a chunk of one or more NFL teams?

Three, what if players are investors in a private equity fund seeking ownership of a team?

Fourth, would equity funds be passive partners with no say over team management?
Fifth, what happens when the fund decides to move on? Will there be an easy way out?

The broader concern could be, as we see it, whether this is the first step toward a fundamental change in majority ownership, with private equity funds — and eventually corporations — owning and running teams. While that would be a concern for current owners who like the way things are and don’t want things to change, the league is currently a bunch of multi-billion-dollar businesses that are managed like family-owned food trucks.

Current owners who run NFL teams aren’t required to have the knowledge, training, or ability to do so. They either need to have the cash to buy a team that is for sale, or the right relationship to a current owner who dies. It would be better for plenty of teams if they were run by businesses that would hire people who know what they’re doing when running professional sports teams, and not just whoever happened to have the biggest bag of money or to be in the right place at the right time.
 
"Mr Raider"...........number 00............the ultimate football warrior............hundreds of injuries................74 surgeries! May you rest in peace, big man! 🙏

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Raiders legend Jim Otto dies Sunday at 86
Published May 19, 2024 10:56 PM

One of the original Raiders has died.

Jim Otto passed Sunday at 86. The news was announced by his former teammate, Raiders linebacker Phil Villapiano. The Raiders confirmed Otto’s death to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Originally drafted by a proposed AFL team in Minneapolis that was abandoned when the NFL decided to put a team there, Otto’s rights defaulted to the Raiders. He wore 50 as a rookie but switched to his trademark 00 in 1961.

He spent 15 years with the Raiders, through 1974. A member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Otto also was named to the NFL’s 100th anniversary team and the AFL all-time team. He entered Canton in 1980, his first year of eligibility.

Otto was one of only 20 men to play in the AFL during its 10 years of existence.
A Wisconsin native, Otto played college football at the University of Miami.

Otto had 74 surgeries during and after his career. He eventually had his right leg amputated. Otto spoke about his football injuries to PBS more than a decade ago.

“There were so many times that I would walk off the field and my eyes would be crossed,” Otto said. “Did you ever have that happen to you? Get hit in the head so hard your eyes were crossed? You sit there. It’s strange; it’s really strange. Or what about if you had amnesia for two days? When you looked at your wife and you didn’t know who she was, like, who’s this chick? And you couldn’t remember. You got hit in the head, and you had amnesia.”
 
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