The NFL is a lot like our Federal government. Those in charge, starting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, have become so obsessed with the NFL’s image rather than what’s good for the sport, that they have forgotten who supports their corporation. The number one sport watched the world over, would be nothing without its fans. But instead of being gracious and thankful to the fans for their overwhelming, sometimes unabashedly supportive obsession, the NFL has walked all over the fans, with ever increasing ticket and merchandise prices, mocked them through their ridiculous diversity initiatives, and emasculated the one sport guys could trust in to escape and have a good time for a few hours with their buddies. But if all the diversity, capitulating, and emasculating weren’t enough, the NFL probably just found another way to kick the fans while they were down one more time. The NFL, in their infinite wisdom, is thinking about moving conference championship games to a neutral site instead of having them at the traditional home team stadium, who fought the entire season to secure an advantage. Not only does a football team secure home field advantage for their team because of the benefits associated with such dominance, they did it for their fans and the cities that house those teams that also benefit them financially. The NFL has become a greedy shallow and cowardly shell of their former selves. If this potential move of housing the conference championships to a neutral site actually comes to fruition, it will be the final nail in the coffin for fans who have devoted time, dedication, and money they don’t necessarily have.
Roger Goodell and the NFL Surreptitiously Changed the Rules During Regular Season
A press release to NFL members showed the excitement the NFL had at the prospect of a neutral location, when they announced how fast they sold initial tickets to a potential Kansas City Chiefs vs Buffalo Bills game.
The NFL might have been excited, but fans and some in the media had their opinions and they weren’t favorable. This potential move, with what it might have looked like if the Buffalo Bills won and had to face the Kansas Chiefs in a neutral location, looked more like a greedy way to fill their billion dollar coffers, than something that would benefit any fan. The neutral site scenario, which has actually been in the works for conference championship games, was given a boost when Buffalo Bills safety, Damar Hamlin was injured during a Monday night game and suffered cardiac arrest. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but it sounds very coincidental that a move the NFL was considering anyway, might have been surreptitiously expedited because of the Damar Hamlin situation. There are clearly already rules in the NFL for such occurrences, but were conveniently pushed aside. The Buffalo Bills got on a plane and went home the night of the game. Understandably, they were upset and in no way capable of focusing on an NFL game, nor should they have been. But the rules clearly state that Buffalo should have forfeited that game. Problem solved. But whether for image, politics, or convenience, Roger Goodell and the NFL decided to change the rules during the season, which has never been done, and are only made off season. Just saying.
Moving the Conference Championship Games to a Neutral Location Only Benefits the NFL
There are a lot of negatives for fans with having conference championships held in neutral locations like a mini Super Bowl. The only entity it benefits is the NFL. The NFL is not going to gain any additional viewers watching it on TV, and in fact might lose some because home field advantage has been taken away, making the conference championship less attractive. This move doesn’t protect the fans in any way and only serves to place more financial burdens that could potentially turn those core fans away. Ticket prices are already astronomical for a regular season game, but now you’re going to add the additional costs of travel and hotel. If this move happens, it will disenfranchise your average blue collar fan, and will quickly become a sport for the elite and privileged.
Chalk me up as someone who cringes at the mere suggestion of neutral site conference championships becoming a normal thing. A home game for a trip to the Super Bowl might be the most electric environment in American sports. 100 times better than energy of an actual Super Bowl.
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) January 20, 2023
100% agree with this.
Annual neutral site conference championship games would be so lame. https://t.co/Ir9uu3Im0s
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) January 20, 2023
The NFL Sees Green While Fans See Red
Home field advantage means something. It means something to devoted fans and the cities that host them. If the NFL decides in favor of neutral sites for conference championship games, not only do fans get screwed out of watching or going to a home game that means something, small business owners get the shaft as well. Think of all the money restaurants and hotels will lose because the NFL needed to grease their palms with the color green. Just like our Federal government squeezes the middle class for every dollar they possibly can, the NFL has taken notice apparently, and potentially decided to do the same.
Related: The Luxury of Being Ignorant
The NFL Has Been Emasculated
It’s bad enough fans have had to tolerate an ever increasingly emasculated and political NFL over the the last few years. The political messages strewn across players’ helmets or on their shoes, the strategic airing of any NFL game right at kick off to avoid scrutiny, because fans would have to be subjected to immature and naive players refusing to stand for our national anthem, all the woke diversity commercials fans are subjected to that have relegated any white male to non-existence or a buffoon, or even the NFL and the hapless commissioner Roger Goodell mandating diversity and inclusion hires, have all demeaned a sport that has been traditionally and unapologetically macho. But Roger Goodell has bent the knee and caved to the whining few, forcing fans who just want to escape the politics of the day, into watching the mind numbing non-reality “right outside our window”.
Fans Might Walk Away Again
There was a day when the NFL was a place where men could escape and watch other men in a brutal American sport called football. The NFL used to care about the fans and it used to be a lot more accessible. Now it’s about how much money the NFL can squeeze out of its fans. Yes, let’s move NFL games to foreign countries where season ticket holders get screwed because they can’t or are forced into paying exorbitant travel fees to see their favorite teams. The NFL has clearly lost touch with what matters to fans and has indirectly or directly found a way to make the NFL a sport for the elite and privileged, knocking the little guy to the curb. Moving conference championships to a neutral location might be one of the dumbest moves the NFL could potentially do. But if they do decide to do this, I think you will see what we saw a few years back, when Roger Goodell wouldn’t put the hammer down on those players that wouldn’t stand for the pledge of allegiance. The NFL is nothing without its fans. Fans, who support a multi billion dollar industry, might say a move like this is the last straw, and might actually walk away because they have finally had enough of this version of the NFL.
