The Sports Curmudgeon

Congratulations top the Kansas City Chiefs as this year’s Super Bowl Champions.  The game was exciting and entertaining down to the final 10 seconds; and while it is a fact that the defensive holding call in the final two minutes was a critical call, that is not why the Eagles lost that game.  The officials did not “steal the game from the Eagles”.

• The Eagles’ offense played well enough to win the game; the offense scored 35 points.
• The Eagles’ defense played well enough to win the game; the defense only allowed 24 points.
• The difference in the game came about because of two plays – – the fumble by the offense that was returned for a Chiefs’ TD and the special teams allowing a 4^th quarter punt return that was – for all practical purposes – a special teams TD.
• The Chiefs made the big plays when big plays were needed.

According to reports this morning, the Colts have decided to hire Eagles’ offensive coordinator, Shane Steichen, as the next head coach for the Colts.  I have not found a report as to the contract details today; I assume they will be reported very soon.  The Colts have the 4^th pick in the upcoming NFL Draft and the expansion of the salary cap gives them the ability to dip into the free agent market if they choose to do so.  That makes the Colts’ job attractive.  What makes that job less attractive is a mercurial owner.  Jim Irsay has a knack of firing head coaches who have a winning record with the team; consider these data for the franchise since Tony Dungy decided to retire from coaching in 2008:

• Jim Caldwell 2009-11:   Record = 26-22-0
• Chuck Pagano 2012-17:   Record = 53-43-0
• Frank Reich 2018-22:   Record = 40-33-1
• Jeff Saturday 2022 (interim):  Record = 1-7-0

Ignoring the end of the 2022 season under Jeff Saturday which was the NFL equivalent of a goat rodeo, the last three head coaches for the Colts posted a combined record of 119-98-1 and all were fired.  In fact, the last time the Colts fired a coach with a losing record was back in 1997 when they parted company with Lindy Infante.

Moving on …  Over the weekend, I heard part of an interview with new Broncos’ coach, Sean Payton.  In that interview, he said that one of the potential purchasing groups for the Washington Commanders approached him to see it he might be interested in the Commanders’ job if indeed that group was successful in acquiring the franchise.  I assume that Payton is truthful there since he now has the job with the Broncos and has no obvious reason to make up such a story.  And if indeed that statement by Sean Payton is factual, it tells me that the process of trying to find a purchaser for the Commanders is not a sham.

And … if it is not a sham, then it seems to me that finalizing the deal quickly is in the interest of the buyers and the seller – – Danny Boy Snyder.  From the standpoint of the purchaser(s), there are decisions about the direction of the team under the new ownership group.  If in fact the deal does not close until May or June, that will hamper the new owners from starting to implement their “new vision” for the team for a full season.  If closing time is not until May of June, the Draft will already have happened and the free agent marketplace will have been picked over.  Delaying to that extent might make the buyer(s) less willing to pay a premium for the franchise – – and that is why a little giddyap on Snyder’s part might present some enlightened self-interest for Snyder.

Obviously, the parties to this auction and to this process will determine the pace of activity; but there does seem to me to be a window for action that is open now and should remain open through the end of March leading up to the Draft in April.  We shall see…

Switching gears …  The Aaron Rodgers soap opera is about to kick into gear as the QB has announced that he will put himself in total darkness and solitary confinement for 4 days of sensory deprivation.  He says that he expects to use the time for meditation and some hallucination as he determines what the rest of his life path ought to be.  This is red meat for reporters, columnists and podcasters; this story can fill space and fill air time in myriad ways.  There is but one little speed bump on this life path, however:

• Aaron Rodgers is under contract with the Green Bay Packers.
• His deal runs through the end of the 2026 season but there is a way out of the deal after the 2023 season.
• His contract calls for him to earn more than $50M in 2023.

The way I read those particulars is that IF Rodgers decides that he wants to continue to play in the NFL – – thereby earning that $50M+ next season – – it has to be with the Packers or a team that makes a trade offer to the Packers that acceptable to the Packers.  Now, that leverage that currently belongs to the Packers flips once the 2023 season begins and Rodgers is still on the Packers’ roster earning that hefty salary.  At that point Rodgers can see his way clear to voiding the balance of the deal and being an unrestricted free agent who would bring nothing to the Packers in exchange for his services in 2024.

So, forget the hallucinating in sensory deprivation and focus on the signs related to dealmaking and offers for Rodgers’ services by a variety of QB-needy teams such as the Jets, Raiders, Titans, Colts, Commanders, Bucs, Saints and/or Falcons.

Finally, as the NFL moves off in a different direction as teams begin to prepare for the 2023 season, it is worth reflecting on an observation by the Roman Stoic philosopher, Seneca:

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

And so another cycle of the football season comes to an end; this is the Final Football Friday.  Oscar Wilde observed:

“Everything is going to be fine in the end.  If it is not fine, it is not the end.”

I must take issue with that observation.  At least for a time, I will not see the absence of Football Friday as “fine”; assuming that I am still around and exchanging oxygen in the biosphere next August/September, Football Friday will return, but that does not mean that I will think things are just hunky-dory over the next several Fridays.  Moreover, the players, coaches and fans of the losing team on Sunday will see the end of this NFL season and none of those people are going to think things are fine in the end.

So, let me get down to business today and review the results of the Six-Pack from two weeks ago:

• College = 0-0-0                                                          Season Total = 20-12-0
• NFL = 1-2-0                                                                Season Total = 25-29-3
• Money Line Parlay = 0-0                                           Season Total = 11-23
• Profit/Loss = 0                                                           Season Total = +$408

 

College Football Commentary:

 

Recent reporting has it that the PAC-12 has narrowed its search fortwo teams to replace USC and UCLA once the two southern California schools head for the Big 10.  According to CBSSports.com, the PAC-12 wants to welcome SMU and San Diego State to the PAC-12.  My assessment of that state of affairs – – which I am going to assume is what is going to happen – – is that the two schools are being invited to join the conference for two very different reasons.

• SMU:  The Mustangs’ campus is in Dallas, TX.  I think that is the only reason the PAC-12 mavens want anything to do with SMU.  The only major achievement of SMU football in the last 50 years or so is that it got the “Death Penalty” for cheating on recruitment and player benefits.  However, with SMU in the conference, the PAC-12 gets to plant its flag in football-crazed Texas and it simultaneously expands the conference’s “national footprint”.  And in that last point, the PAC-12 needs to realize that “national footprint” is not always an unalloyed benefit.  Dallas is 800 miles from Boulder, CO which is easily the furthest east that the conference goes as of now.  That will make for long trips for lots of teams in lots of sports – – and there is no guarantee that Texas fans will rally behind SMU and begin to give a fig about the PAC-12.  That will be an interesting situation to watch…
• San Diego State:  I think this one is an easy choice for the PAC-12.  With the departure of USC and UCLA, the PAC-12 loses a toehold in the southern California area and there are lots of TV households there.  The conference needs to show potential “broadcast partners” good ratings and lots of viewers – – so putting a team back in that big marketplace is – I believe – the primary reason for this invitation.  Will it work?  People in the PAC-12 better hope so.

About a month ago, Michigan suspended co-offensive coordinator, Matt Weiss while an investigation proceeded involving “unauthorized computer access”.  No other details were given out by the school or the authorities; so, we had to wait until another shoe dropped.  In the absence of any information, the imagination can run amok:

• Was the “unauthorized access” from someone outside the university?
• Was someone using a school computer to try to hack into another computer?
• Was someone using the Athletic Department computers to bet on Michigan football games?
• Was someone using a school computer for something awful like “kiddie porn”?
• And off one can go into a phantasm…

We still have no definitive answer(s) as to specific actions here, but we can surmise that whatever was alleged to have happened probably happened because the investigation is still continuing and the University of Michigan fired Matt Weiss.  The only new reporting by CBSSports.com on this matter – – other than Weiss having been fired – – is a reference to an entry in the University’s “Daily Crime and Fire Log” which records:

“… fraudulent activity involving someone accessing university emails accounts without authorization,”

The real question in my mind now is more pragmatic than curious:

• Will the details and the findings of this investigation ever be revealed or is the firing of Matt Weiss the end of the line?

 

NFL Commentary:

 

The last two weeks have been saturated with stale and overblown storyline reports about the game this weekend.  This is Super Bowl LVII and somewhere someone has concocted 57 reasons why the Chiefs will win this game and then on the next day generated 57 reasons that the Eagles will prevail.  The only real surprise to me is that Heinz Foods with their legendary “57 varieties” has not found a way to barge in here and dominate the NFL landscape.

Yes, this game will be the culmination of the 2022 NFL season and indeed the NFL season is the biggest deal of all in US sports.  But the coverage is once again hugely overblown and obfuscates for some people that this is still at its core – – a freaking football game.  It is not a cataclysmic event; it is not the rapture anticipated by many of the folks who will put the imminence of said rapture on hold for about 4 hours while they watch the game; it is a football game.  It is a big deal in the world of professional football in the US to be sure; simultaneously, it is an event of no consequence in the world of people trying to dig their way out of devastating earthquakes in the Middle East today.  As we all get ready to enjoy the biggest game of the season, please remember to keep it in perspective:

• It’s a football game, Folks!

Back in the 1970s, Duane Thomas was a running back for a bunch of NFL teams and for teams in the World Football League (RIP) and the CFL.  In Super Bowl VI when the Cowboys soundly defeated the Dolphins, Thomas was voted the game’s MVP but since he had given the media the silent treatment for the entire season, the award was announced and given to Roger Staubach who finished a distant second in the actual voting.  Thomas is 75 years old now and back in the 70s he posed a question that really needs to be reconsidered every once in a while – – when the NFL and the coverage of the NFL gets far too full of itself.  Asked Duane Thomas:

“Why do they call [the Super Bowl] ‘the ultimate game’ if they are going to play another one next year?”

Whilst you ponder an explanation to Mr. Thomas, let me also point you to something that appeared in Dwight Perry’s column in the Seattle Times right after last year’s Super Bowl where the Rams became World Champs:

“The team that won the opening coin toss now has now lost the past eight Super Bowls.

“Where’s the public outcry over the unfairness of that?”

The answer to Professor Perry’s question is related to the answer that one ought to give to Professor Thomas’ question above.  It is a football game; it is not a life-and-death situation; it should not be hyped or compared to a life-and-death situation; enjoy it for what it is…

If you have an abundance of spare time,  you could have gone and checked this out for yourselves but if you were otherwise occupied with something really important such as perfecting your recipe for ice cubes, let me help out here by sparing you the research time just to let you know that:

• Eighteen of the last twenty-one Super Bowl winners wore white uniforms in the game.
• The Chiefs will be wearing white in this weekend’s game.
• The last time the Eagles were in the Super Bowl they won the game and wore green.

Make of that what you will…

There are folks who are into numerology – – the “study” of the relationship among numbers, patterns, sums and human events/behaviors.  Practitioners of numerology believe that numbers “add nuance to astrological  influences by providing clarification.”  When I read that claim, an old disclaimer from ads for cars that stated their EPA highway mileage rating came to mind:

• “Your mileage may vary…”

Nonetheless, if I wanted to be an amateur numerology practitioner for this year’s Super Bowl showdown, I would focus on “The Number 2”:

• Andy Reid has been the coach of TWO NFL franchises in Super Bowl games.
• A Chief’s victory would give Andy Reid Super Bowl win number TWO.
• Four NFL coaches have coached a Super Bowl Game against an earlier employer and those coaches’ record is TWO and TWO.
• [Aside:  Weeb Eubank and Jon Gruden defeated their previous teams in the Super Bowl while Dan Reeves and Pete Carroll lost to their previous teams.]
• Nick Sirianni has been coach of the Eagles for TWO seasons.
• When Doug Pederson led the Eagles to the Super Bowl, he had been the coach for TWO seasons.
• Jalen Hurts was selected in Round TWO of the NFL Draft.
• Jalen Hurts has been the starting QB for the Eagles for TWO seasons.
• The Eagles have been to the Super Bowl with TWO QBs who took over from Carson Wentz

Numerology tells me that the Eagles’ DB, Darius Slay who wears Number TWO and the Chiefs’ RB, Ronald Jones who also wears Number TWO should have important roles in game on Sunday.  Moreover, players wearing Number TWENTY TWO could have pivotal roles in the game’s outcome.

If any of that happens, you heard it here first.  If it does not come to pass, please ignore the above…

 

THE Game:

 

(Sun 6:30 ET) Chiefs vs. Eagles – 1 (50.5) :  The spread opened as a pick ‘em game; then the line expanded to make the Eagles a 2.5-point favorite; in the last couple of days, the line has come down to a single point.  The Total Line opened at 51 points; at first it expanded to 51.5 and now it too has eroded down to this level.  For a normal regular season game, that line movement would probably not be worth a mention, but for Super Bowl game lines to have moved that much is unusual.  And yet, here we are …

If you believe that football games are ‘won in the trenches”, you probably like the Eagles in this one.  I think both the Eagles’ offensive and defensive lines match up better with their counterparts in this game.  The Chiefs’ two advantages would appear to be at QB and at play-calling experience.

Back in December, I exchanged Holiday Greetings with a friend.  He and I are guests every year at a Super Bowl party – – except when there is COVID in the air.  He said he would see me at the party and asked for my prediction on the game.  I said:

• Eagles 45  Chiefs 38

There were still 3 games left in the regular season when I said that and not a lot has happened to change my view drastically.  So, that is my call for the game and that means I will take the Eagles to win and cover and for the game to go OVER.

Finally, at the end of this Final Football Friday, I feel it important to end on a happy note.  And that brings to mind this comment by Orson Welles:

“If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.”

I’ll stop it here.  Over and out.

But don’t get me wrong I love sports………

 

 

The NBA trading deadline arrives at 3:00 PM ET today.  Given the level of activity that has gone on in the last few days, one has to wonder if there are any bullets left in the NBA’s gun to bring attention to the league today.  The deal that sent Kyrie Irving from the Nets to the Mavs was a big deal – – but not much of a surprise.  Irving and the Nets’ organization had been less than “buddy-buddy” for more than a year; so, when he demanded a trade, my sense is that the Nets’ braintrust figured they could deal him and be done with him.  So, they did.

I wrote then that the supposed super-team of Durant, Irving and Harden had been reduced to one featuring Durant, Simmons and Dinwiddie.  Little did I know that the Nets had only just begun.  [Hat Tip: Karen Carpenter]  The news this morning is that Kevin Durant has also been shipped out of Brooklyn to the Phoenix Suns along with TJ Warren in exchange for:

• Mikal Bridges
• Jae Crowder
• Cameron Johnson
• Four unprotected first round picks (’23, ’25, ’27 & ’29) plus a first round pick swap in ‘28.

The Suns have a new owner, Mat Ishbia, who has been on the scene for about three minutes.  If this trade shows his willingness to shake things up with his team and in the league in general, maybe he will acquire the moniker of “Earthquake”.  The Suns acquired a bona fide superstar in Durant.  He is under contract for three more seasons; he is 34 years old meaning that he should continue to be a superstar for the duration of his deal – – barring injury.  This trade allows the Suns to play Durant along with Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton and Chris Paul which is a powerful quartet.  [Aside:  Am I the first to think this could become the “Kevin and Devin Show”?]

As of this morning, the Suns are tied for fourth place in the NBA Western Conference – – ironically tied with the Mavs in the standings – – meaning the Suns are virtually certain to be part of the NBA playoffs.  If those four “core starters” can avoid the injury bug, the Suns are going to be a factor in the Western Conference playoffs.

So, what did the Nets get out of all this?  Well, unless one of those draft picks turns out to be another Kevin Durant, the Nets did not get anywhere near a commensurate level of raw basketball talent.

• Mikal Bridges is a quality player and an elite defensive player.  He may not deserve superstar status, but he is much more than some guy whose main job is to sit on the bench to make sure the bench does not float up to the ceiling.
• Jae Crowder is 31 years old and in his 13^th season in the NBA; the Nets will be his eighth team.  He is not a malcontent but his travels around the league indicate that he is just good enough to be a bargaining chip in player swaps.
• Cameron Johnson is in his 4^th year in the league and is only 26 years old.  He has been injured for much of this season appearing in only 17 games.  Put a question mark by his name and go look to see how he develops over the next season or two as you evaluate this trade.

What the Nets did acquire that they need is those draft picks.  After sending picks away to acquire James Harden, the cupboard was bare.  These picks would appear to be mediocre assets because if the Suns keep the band together, those picks are not likely to be lottery picks.  So, here is the bottom line:

• The Nets took a shot at assembling a super-team and it worked about as well as King Kong playing a game of Jenga.  And this is the price the franchise has to pay as it embarks on a tear-down and rebuild program.

 “O quam cito transit gloria mundi”  [How quickly the glory of the world passes by.]

But the NBA dealing did not end with that blockbuster.  Evidently the Lakers. Timberwolves and Jazz shuffled their rosters last night as well.  Here is what each team gets out of all that:

• Lakers get:  DeAngelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt
• Jazz get:  Russell Westbrook and a top-four protected first round pick in ‘27
• Wolves get:  Mike Conley Jr., Juan Toscano-Anderson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Damian Jones and 4 second round picks.

Here is my quick assessment of this deal:

• The Lakers get a lot younger here and the team can represent that it acted to do something positive for LeBron James in terms of getting him some on-court help.  Russell is probably the best player of the three and his contract expires at the end of this season so the Lakers need to decide if he is an important piece moving forward.
• The Jazz get an expiring contract in Russell Westbrook that will give them cap space and a draft pick 5 years from now.  I guess that appeals to the decision makers in Utah; who seem to be trying to corner the market on future draft picks.
• The Wolves get Mike Conley, Jr. plus three guys and four “Hail Mary” picks in the future.

Finally, six NBA teams made strategic moves in the trading market in the last 72 hours going back to the Nets/Mavs swap involving Kyrie Irving.  Those teams made choices and acted on them.  So, let me close with these words from President Theodore Roosevelt:

“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Today, I want to review some of the numbers that are associated with this year’s Super Bowl game that will happen on Sunday.  It is – by a Secretariat-like margin – the biggest sporting event of the year in the US.  The anticipated TV audience for the game itself is 100 million viewers – – give or take a couple of million.  That number is approximately double the number of viewers for the two Conference Championship games two weekends ago and those two games attracted audiences that were three or four times larger than anything else that is scheduled to be on TV this year.

That huge audience is the reason that FOX can charge – – and has sold – – ad slots of 30 seconds each during the game at a cost of $7M; the average charge for an ad during the game is more than $6.5M for 30 seconds.  Reports say that there are still a few open ad slots in the brutally overdone pregame show and only a few contingent slots in an overtime period should it be necessary.  According to a statement by the network, FOX expects to clear $500M from the Super Bowl this Sunday.

The biggest buyer of ad slots this year will be Anhueuser-Busch; they have purchased 3 full minutes of ad time during the game.  There will be a new category of products advertised this year; Remy Martin has purchased ad time meaning that liquor will join beer and wine as alcoholic beverages making a pitch to that immense TV audience.

There will be a conspicuous product absence this year too.  If you recall, last year’s Super Bowl game featured a whole bunch of ads for cryptocurrency.  This year there is no representation from that product segment for the game or for the pregame according to a statement released by FOX.  I think I will miss crypto ads this year because I really want to know from Matt Damon what comes after:

“Fortune favors the brave.”

For me, the big question about Super Bowl ads is the use of ad time by sponsors to tell the audience about things other than the product they are trying to sell.  Over the past couple of years, there has been a lot of air time devoted to issues other than the merits of a product/service for sale by the advertiser such as sustainability or child welfare.  I wonder if a company like Anheuser-Busch will use its three minutes of ad time during the game to tell me about their various beverages or if they will use that time to tell me about a crisis in the world’s rainforests.  We shall see…

Another numerical aspect for Sunday’s game is the anticipated betting handle. If I counted correctly, 33 of the 50 states in the US now have legalized sports betting; with that expanded reach, the total handle for bets on the game and peripheral wagers tied to the game is expected to be $1.1B.  The State of Nevada no longer enjoys its virtual monopoly on legal sports books in the US; nevertheless, the anticipated handle for sportsbooks in Nevada is $176M which should be the largest handle in the US.

Another number to consider – – albeit one that I will take with a grain of salt – – is an estimate by the American Gaming Association that the total amount of money bet on the Super Bowl including things like office pools, personal wagers and bets placed with local bookies will be $7.6B.  The reason I take that estimate with a grain of salt is that it behooves the American Gaming Association to represent that there is a large reservoir of bets out there in addition to the handle taken in by those legal sportsbooks in those 33 states.  As companies look for opportunities to expand their enterprises, estimates of this sort become valuable talking points.

Having said all that, there is clearly a lot of Super Bowl betting that goes on outside the sportsbooks.  I am not convinced however that the legal handle is only about 15% of the total amount wagered…

And what would the lead-up to a major event like the Super Bowl be without a lawsuit?  About 3 weeks ago, the city of Phoenix was sued over an ordinance referred to as a “Clean Zone”.  What Phoenix wanted to do was to disallow temporary signage in a large section of the city without the approval of the organizing committee for the Super Bowl extravaganza.  A local resident who owns a couple of properties in the area that would be part of the “Clean Zone” sued the city claiming he was harmed by the city ordinance because he could not rent out temporary signage space on his properties.  The city ban was taken to mean there would be no signs using unlicensed Super Bowl LVII trademarks and/or any ads by competitors for sponsors of the local effort to host the game.  Some of those sponsors include Apple Music, Bud Light, Lowe’s and Pepsi.

Last week, a judge in Maricopa County – where Phoenix is – ruled that the “Clean Zone” restrictions were “an unconstitutional delegation of government power”.  Here is what that judge said:

“The Resolution (which established the idea of the Clean Zone) provides no standards to guide decision-maker’s discretion. It was also unconstitutional of the City to delegate this power to an unaccountable private actor.”

The city fathers scrambled to try to amend the Resolution but that too earned them a slap from the judge:

“The first time Plaintiff could take action on a facially constitutional law was at a time when it was too late for him to obtain his own use permit. Any delay is the cause of the City’s conduct and not that of Plaintiff.”

And …

“Mandamus is proper here because the City has refused to consider Plaintiff’s request for a sign because they claim it is too late. Again, as the City caused the delay by enacting an unconstitutional law, and then correcting the problem in way that denies Plaintiff the opportunity to apply to post speech on his property, the only remedy available at this time is a Court order.”

And …

“In summary, the City created the need for this litigation by enacting an unconstitutional resolution. They further exacerbated the problem, by only choosing to remedy their error when it was too late for Plaintiff to apply to exercise his right to speech. The City’s offer that Plaintiff can file his temporary sign application only if permitted by a private entity renders the application of an otherwise facially constitutional resolution to be unconstitutional.”

It sure sounds to me like the city fathers in Phoenix lost out big time in this matter.  I wonder how that ruling which references a restriction of speech might apply to any attempt by another host city to establish a different version of a “Clean Zone”.

Finally, since the elected officials in Phoenix took such a legal drubbing there, let me suggest that they might not want to be bound by this suggestion made by George Bernard Shaw:

“We should all be obliged to appear before a board every 5 years and justify our existence … on pain of liquidation.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

I ran across a report recently that said as a result of firing head coaches with years left on their contracts, NFL owners are on the hook for “more than $500M” in payments to those coaches fired in the last 5 years.  I have not put in the effort to verify that assertion; I take it as a fact and here are my reactions in the order they came to mind:

1. That is a lot of cheese.
2. Much of that total will be offset by coaches’ earnings in subsequent jobs.
3. Nevertheless, that is a lot of cheese!
4. That money is the consequence of a lot of bad decisions.

And that last reaction got me to thinking about why hiring decisions for head coaches in the NFL have such a failure rate.  Sally Jenkins and others believe it is due to a lack of inclusiveness on the part of owners making these hiring decisions.  Maybe they are right, but I think there is a more generic flaw in the process.  I believe the “problem” here is that owners are making these decisions and owners have no idea what it takes to be a successful NFL coach.

NFL owners are billionaires; that is a given.  Some of them got much of their wealth from family wealth – – the Fords, the Waltons, the Hunts the Johnsons.  None of them got their wealth in the game of football unless you want to count George Halas’ oldest daughter as being intimately involved in the game of professional football.  NFL owners are shrewd and competent in various fields:

• Jeffrey Lurie – Eagles – was a successful movie producer.
• Terry Pegula – Bills – made his money in the fracking business.
• Jerry Jones – Cowboys – was making oil and gas money before fracking was invented.
• Stan Kroenke – Rams – is a real estate mogul.
• You get the idea…

With the exception of Jerry Jones who played college football for a major college team (Arkansas), I do not believe that any of the other owners were ever part of a big-time football environment.  With that in mind, it is not all that surprising to me that an owner faced with making a decision to hire Joe Flabeetz as opposed to Sam Glotz as the new coach of his/her team is taking a shot in the dark.  I have no doubt that Terry Pegula would make an effective and informed choice if he were hiring a geological engineer to oversee a fracking operation; that decision is right there in his wheelhouse.  When he has to hire a football coach, he is just as likely to hire a good one as he is to hire a bad one based on his football expertise.  [Aside:  I am not picking on Terry Pegula here.  I use him as example of someone with lots of expertise and experience in a very specialized field who does not have the same level of expertise in the specialized field of “NFL head coach.”]

And then, the problem gets compounded…  These highly successful billionaire owners are used to seeing events progress along a planned trajectory toward success.

• Jeffrey Lurie produces a movie; the movie is shot and edited; the movie is released; the movie is a success.  Naturally…
• Rob Walton (Broncos’ owner) decides to expand Walmart stores into Lower Slobbovia; licenses are acquired; store sites are acquired; logistic chains are established; stores open; Walmart profits expand.  Of course…

That is not always what happens when a new NFL head coach is hired.  Sometimes a mediocre team gets a new head coach and becomes a bad team; sometimes a bad team gets a new head coach and does not get much better.  It is in those sorts of situations where highly successful billionaire owners become impatient.  In the bulk of their business experience things progress according to plan and if the plan needs to be tweaked somewhere along the way, the owner steps up and provides the tweak that moves things ahead smartly.  When an NFL owner is playing that role in his/her field of expertise, that is a positive contribution; when an NFL owner behaves that way with his team, it is often nothing more than meddling.

In the NFL world, that sort of knee-jerk response by ownership to a plan that is not going exactly the way it was supposed to go translates to:

• Fire the guy you hired recently; pay him off and get a new guy in the job who will “get it right”.

And that is how the NFL owners as a group can build up a sunken cost of about $500M in what amounts to severance pay for fired head coaches.

Rather than thinking this “wasted money” is due to a lack of inclusiveness on the part of owners, I prefer to apply Hanlon’s Razor here:

“Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

Only I would change “stupidity” to “lack of understanding” in the adage…

Finally, I have spent today venturing into an area of speculation where one can easily question my competencies for such speculation(s).  Therefore, let me close with this observation by author Christopher Hitchens – – sometimes labeled Hitchens’ Razor:

“That which can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Things were bordering on tranquil in and around the Barclay Center in Brooklyn last week.  The only drama involved who might win or lose the next game on the schedule for the Brooklyn Nets.  Then, late last week, Kyrie Irving reacted to that “drama-void” and created a bit – – with him as the centerpiece of course.  He demanded to be traded about a week before the trade deadline arrives in the NBA.  Stephen A. Smith reported that his sources told him that Irving would sit out the rest of this season if his demand was not met.

Irving’s trade demand was probably less than 10 minutes old when the first speculation of a Kyrie Irving/Russell Westbrook swap could happen.  It did not happen; and in my opinion, it was never going to happen for a simple reason.

• Both Irving and Westbrook are on expiring contracts.  Westbrook’s value today is enhanced by that status since it creates cap space for the team that has him on its roster at the end of the season.  However, the Nets already have that “value” in Irving whose contract also expires at the end of this season.  So, that swap – – which would work under the trading rules of the NBA – – provides the Nets with no significant asset that they do not already have.

Instead, the Nets shipped Irving off the Mavericks in return for

• Spencer Dinwiddie
• Dorian-Finney-Smith
• A basket of draft picks

In terms of on-court capability, the Nets did not get an equivalent level of talent.  However, what the Nets did get is Kyrie Irving’s presence in locker room other than theirs.  And that has its benefits all by itself.  And that is something that the Mavericks will need to adjust to for the rest of this season.

Looking back, when Irving and Kevin Durant decided to join forces on the Nets to create a championship contender, everyone focused on the on-court abilities of the two superstars and thought that indeed this could be a juggernaut.  Then, the Nets went out and added James Harden to the mix; and some reporters reached Level 5 on the Ecstasy Meter.  Well, that talent experiment folded like a card-table chair.  The troika of Durant, Harden and Irving is now:

• Kevin Durant, Ben Simmons and Spencer Dinwiddie.

That should be a cautionary tale for the Mavericks’ owner, Mark Cuban who will be expected to offer Irving a super-max contract at the end of the 2023 playoffs in order to retain Irving’s services – – those services and bushel basket full of other “off-court oddities” that seem to follow Kyrie Irving around just like the dust cloud used to follow Pigpen around in the Peanuts comic strip.  A former colleague with a PhD in Psychology once told me that the single best predictor of a person’s future behavior is that person’s past behavior. If my former colleague is correct in that assertion then Kyrie Irving is the poster child for the Latin phrase, caveat emptor.

In another bizarre basketball story albeit at a far lower level of the game, a 22-year old assistant coach for a high school girls’ JV team donned a jersey and went into the game and played against the team’s opponent.  This was not a scrimmage or a practice session; this was a scheduled game for the two teams.  Here is how this transpired:

• A 13-year old girl was going to miss this school game because she was out of town playing in a tournament for a club team that girl was part of.
• The assistant coach used the missing player’s uniform and played under the missing girl’s name in the scorebook.

The assistant who played in the game, the head coach of the JV team and another assistant have been fired.  If you are wondering why anyone would do such a thing and/or how they thought this would remain “clandestine”, please feel free to join me in such a wonderous state of mind.  Even more confounding is this:

• There is an obvious risk to one’s job and one’s reputation in doing something like this and getting caught.
• So, what is the benefit derived from playing a ringer in a girls’ high school basketball game that is commensurate with that risk?

Switching gears …  There are plenty of examples of silly attempts to alter the English language in order to make something more politically correct.  There is a new “movement” afoot that could reside in the Pantheon of Politically-correct Palaver.  USC and Cal State-Northridge have determined that the word “field” – – as in field study for educators or counselors – – is potentially racist since slaves toiled in the “fields”.  The new politically correct substitution for “field” is “practicum”.  These schools have already renamed entities in the school and now USC has an “Office of Practicum Education”.

• I cannot wait until someone suggests that the radio announcer for USC’s football team proclaim that “Wide receiver Joe Flabeetz is out there on the wide side of the practicum.
• Maybe someone will demand that reruns of The Flying Nun be edited to say that the star of the show was Sally Practicum.
• Somehow Practicum of Dreams does not evoke thoughts of an Iowa corn-practicum.

Sigh …

Finally, let me close today with this entry from The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm:

“Lettuce:  A tasteless plant one must include as the base portion of one’s salad bar visit, solely to maintain the illusion that one is eating healthily even though one’s plate will soon be piled high with the mayonnaise-laden macaroni and potato concoctions that got you to the salad bar in the first place.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

About 20 years ago, Guinness had an ad campaign for its draft stout that focused on the time it took to pour a “proper pint”.  As the draft settled in the glass and equilibrated, viewers were told that “Good things come to those who wait.”  I want to suggest this morning that declaration may resonate with football fans who have been waiting for more than 20 years to see the Pro Bowl game dismantled.  Finally, the league and the players dealt with the reality that the Pro Bowl game was a charade and it needed to be shelved.

However, the Pro Bowl does serve some purpose for both the league and the players.  For the league it is a showcase event; it allows for additional sponsorships; it is a “feelgood” time.  For the players – or at least many of them – it is another payday; many players have clauses in their contract for a bonus when/if they are selected for a Pro Bowl game.  Moreover, even players who were not actually selected can cash in here if they replace a selected player who misses the game due to “injury” or due to playing for a team that will be in the Super Bowl next week.

I want to take a short look at three of the selectees this year:

1. Josh Allen was rightfully selected as an AFC Pro Bowl QB.  He declared that he would not show up due to an “injury” – – but that “injury” did not prevent him from showing up and playing in a Pro-Am golf tournament in California this weekend.
2. Derek Carr was selected as an AFC Pro Bowl QB this year.  He was benched for the final two games of the year by the Raiders and the team has said he will not be back with the Raiders next year.
3. Tyler Huntley was selected as an AFC Pro Bowl QB.  He started a total of 4 games this season; he threw 2 TDs and 3 INTs; his QB Rating (on a scale of 0 to 100) was 41.2.

Tyler Huntley is a fine story; he was undrafted coming out of college; he made the Ravens’ team and has started 8 games for the Ravens during his three-year career.  Based on the info I have found at Spotrac.com – a website with plenty of contract specifics for NFL players – Huntley’s contract does not have a Pro Bowl bonus clause possibly because as an undrafted free agent he did not have the leverage to get the team to include one.  And truth be told, based solely on performance on the field in 2022, Tyler Huntley does not belong in the Pro Bowl – – but he is both available and willing to show up and play.

This year, the game itself will be a flag football game.  For the past decade or so, the Pro Bowl games have been almost flag football games but without the flags.  There was very little blocking and virtually no tackling; the players pretended to do those sorts of things, but there was no “gusto”.

“Lack of gusto” is to be expected in a flag football game; so, perhaps seeing that deficiency will not be so dissatisfying.  I will probably tune in for a moment on Sunday at 3:00 PM ET to see if watching elite athletes play flag football is sufficiently entertaining to keep me tuned in for more than a half dozen snaps.

One other Pro Bowl “invitee” demonstrates the lack of seriousness of the game itself.  The league has invited the Commanders’ mascot – – Major Tuddy – – who has been in existence for all of two NFL weekends to show up and “entertain the crowd”.  For those of you who are not familiar with Major Tuddy, he is a creature with a pigface/nose who wears an artillery helmet with the Washington Commanders’ logo on the side.  His “career” consists of two games prancing about on the sidelines and that body of work deems him worthy of Pro Bowl participation.  And I am supposed to take the Pro Bowl seriously…?

Shifting gears …  I ran across a report by the Associated Press with this headline:

“Latvia considers Olympic boycott if Russians compete”

Two thoughts ran through my mind as I read that headline.  First, I wondered if anyone would notice the absence of the Latvian team had they not announced that they would be missing.  Second, we have been down this path before and even when Olympic boycotts are carried out, they do not provide a remedy for the underlying situation that caused some folks to consider a boycott in the first place.

Obviously, the underlying geopolitical issue here is the ongoing situation in Ukraine.  I have no idea what it might take to start the ball rolling toward a resolution of that conflict such that the killing and the destruction comes to an end.  However, I am relatively confident that a Latvian Olympic boycott is not going to get that job done.

Let me remind you of one previous Olympic boycott.  In 1980, the Olympic Games were held in Moscow; in 1979, the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan.  President Carter declared that the US would not send a team to Moscow the next summer and indeed the US boycotted that Olympiad.  So, did the Soviet army leave Afghanistan and stop the shooting/killing?

• Well, if you believe that the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 was somehow directly linked to that boycott in the summer of 1980, then you might believe such a threat in 2023 has the gravitas to settle things in Ukraine.

Pardon me, but I cannot get on that bandwagon…

Finally, since today dealt with two situations that have a farcical element in them, let me close with a theater adage:

“A comedy puts unusual people in real situations; a farce puts real people in unusual situations.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Yesterday, by the time I emerged from my lair – – known as Curmudgeon Central – – for the purpose of having some dinner, I had received 5 separate emails all containing some variant of this question:

Does Tom Brady mean it this time?

Obviously, I don’t know the answer to that question, but I hope that he does.  His recanting of his retirement last year cost him his family.  Obviously, I do not have the competitive fire that Brady must have to do what he has done; but that is a cost that I would not be able to reconcile.  On the assumption that Brady maintains his retirement status, I think there are two immediate fallouts and one interesting question:

• Fallout #1:  The Bucs have a QB conundrum on their hands.  With Brady gone, the only QB on the roster who is signed for 2023 is Kyle Trask who has never taken a snap in an NFL game.  At the same time, Brady’s retirement will “cost” the Bucs about $35M in “dead money” against their salary cap so that will hinder their maneuverability in the free agent market.
• Fallout #2:  Both Trey Lance and Brock Purdy can relax and focus on their injury rehab regimens without looking over their shoulders to see if rumors of Brady “coming home” to finish out his career in NoCal where it all started have any substance.
• Interesting Question:  FOX has Brady under contract for 10 years after he retires and FOX will televise the Super Bowl a week from Sunday.  I cannot imagine that the FOX execs would stick Brady in the booth with no training/preparation, but might he be part of the larger programming/presentation?

Bob Molinaro posed this question in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot a few weeks ago and maybe we will start to see the outcome:

Sneaky suspicion: What do you want to bet that pass rushers will be granted more latitude once Tom Brady isn’t around anymore to protect?

A: Maybe we’ll find out soon enough…

Another NFL event went down yesterday; Sean Payton was hired to be the head coach of the Denver Broncos.  To make that hire, the Broncos had to trade for Payton since the Saints had him under contract through the 2024 season.  The price that the Saints extracted was a first round pick in 2023 and a second round pick in 2024.  Given the haul of draft picks the Broncos sent to Seattle to acquire Russell Wilson last year, Broncos’ fans have to hope that Payton’s offense and his tutelage can elevate Wilson’s level of play starting next season.  I think this is  an interesting gamble – – sort of like doubling down in blackjack when the dealer shows a face card.

With those two news items leading the way regarding the NFL, an under-the-radar story yesterday was the Houston Texans hiring DeMeco Ryans to be their head coach.  Ryans was the “hot coordinator candidate” for a head coaching job this season and his signing with the Texans is a kind of homecoming for him since he began his playing career as a linebacker for the Texans.  His entire coaching career has been with the Niners starting in 2017 and culminating in his being the defensive coordinator for the last 2 seasons.

The Niners’ brass also seemed to close the door on the possibility of Jimmy G staying with the team next year.  Kyle Shanahan addressed a question about that possibility this way:

“No, I don’t see any scenario of that.”

And that statement leads me to believe that Shanahan and GM John Lynch have a plan in mind for the QB position in SF next year.  If I choose to look at the glass half-empty as is my wont, the Niners now have two very green QBs who are injured and who will miss significant off-season time rehabbing significant injuries.  Trey Lance does not have enough game experience to say he has even had a cup of coffee in the league yet; Brock Purdy was a great underdog story with his winning streak last season but let me say that his résumé is still a bit thin.  The Niners’ defense – even with the departure of defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans – is a top-shelf unit. So …

• Will the Niners stand-pat at QB or are they quietly in the “QB free agent market”?

In the world of college football coaches, there was an interesting story that surfaced earlier this week.  An audit by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office of the Athletic Department at LSU discovered that the university accidently over-paid head coach Brian Kelly by $1,001,368 back in May and June of 2022.  The overpayment was discovered in November and confirmed in December and arrangements have been made to recover the overpayments.  There is no allegation of any sort of nefarious dooings here; it appears to have been a “paperwork error”.

Here is my take on that situation:

• Wouldn’t it be great to be in a situation where your boss overpaid you by $1M and that mistaken overpayment did not jump out as a “WTF moment” as you did whatever financial management you do?

Finally, since I mentioned Brian Kelly’s financial situation here, let me close with this observation by author Dorothy Parker:

“The two most beautiful words in the English language are “check enclosed.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

`           Yesterday, I discussed the dominant position of the NFL in the world of television.  Today, I want to hypothesize on why that is the case.  Obviously, Americans like the game of football and like to watch it; to get to the level of dominance on TV that the NFL has gotten to, the viewing public must like what they tune into watch.  That is a sine qua non and needs no further discussion.

Another key element for the size of the audience for NFL games is the betting market for those games.  Sportsbooks in 30 states and on the Internet do a huge business in terms of handle for pro football games, and the fact is that viewers like to watch games where they “have a little something riding on the outcome(s).”

However, those two factors – – love of football and the easy access to a place where a wager might be made – – seems not to carry over to major college football where there are rabid fanbases for at least twenty of the top-shelf college teams.  Thinking about that difference leads me to consider two things that I consider to be major factors as to why NFL football enjoys the perch that it does.

1. There are only 17 games per team in an NFL regular season; so, every game is important to about 24 teams who have playoff aspirations at the start of every season.  One NFL game carries the same weight as 9.5 MLB games in terms of the standings; one NFL game carries the same weight as almost 5 NBA games.
2. NFL games are on TV 3 times a week; but in general, there are only 5 games to watch on those days.  Only a third of NFL games are available to fans on “free TV”, so there is a measure of scarcity there.

Let me compare those two situations to other sports as it regards their TV presence:

• College Football:  The 12-game regular season makes “every game matter” even though every major college schedules about 2 games a year where only the final score matters.  However, the fanbases for college teams do not overlap that much for most of the year and there are too many regional situations where fans of Team A have no interest in another conference game in their own conference.  As an example, in recent years, Alabama fans have not been on the edge of their seats waiting to hear about the results of the Missouri/Vandy game.  Truth be told, 99% of Alabama fans could not care less…  Also, for fans of Alabama – – or Georgia or Ohio State or Michigan or … – – virtually every game on the schedule is available for viewing by the fanbase.  So, the audience for major college football is fragmented and it is saturated at the same time for the really rabid fans of individual teams.
• MLB:  There are 162 games in the regular season and it is difficult to see how any matchup in early May is going to be “critical” way down the line in September.  Major league baseball games are occurrences; NFL games are events.  There are ways to bet on baseball games, but statistics say that the handle in sportsbooks during baseball season is only about one eighth of what it is during football season.  People do not bet on baseball games nearly as much as they do on football games and that reduces interest in tuning in to see how your team – – and your “action” – – is doing.
• NBA:   There are too many games in the regular season to hold viewer interest; a November game between two teams that have the same chance of “making a playoff run” as the Washington Generals is simply uninteresting.  Many fans would rather watch a weeknight MAC football game than watch the Detroit Pistons square off against the Houston Rockets.  There is ample interest in wagering on NBA games but there is far too much inventory for TV to handle.  The NFL regular season is 272 games; the NBA regular season is 1230 games.

The NBA and MLB also suffer from over-exposure on TV.  I don’t know if this is the case for every MLB and/or NBA team, but I can see all of my local teams’ games if that is my choice.  That is a lot of time staring at a TV screen.  Think about it; 162 Washington Nats games at 3 hours apiece plus 82 Washington Wizards games at 2 hours apiece equals 650 hours of my life watching a whole lot of games that I knew were irrelevant even before I turned the TV set on.  Meh!

Many years ago – – after the dinosaurs went extinct but before the dawn of the Internet – – there was this thing that MLB did on Saturday afternoons called the “Game of the Week”.  It was an event; I got to see teams from far away from my home viewing area; it was special; I watched those games far more often than not..  That programming is gone and replaced by myriad meaningless games that I have learned to avoid.  MLB has chosen quantity over quality; the NFL does no such thing with scheduling flexibilities that allow for important games to be “flexed” into prime viewing windows; the NFL values quality programming over “whatever programming”.

Basically, the same situation applies to the NBA; quantity trumps quality of their programming into my household.  I very much enjoy watching sports on TV, but I would rather spend two hours comparing health insurance plans than spending two hours watching the Washington Wizards compete in a life-and-death-struggle with the Charlotte Hornets.  In addition, the NBA games have to deal with “load management” games.  Were I to happen to tune in to see the Wizards play the Sixers – – as an example – – , one of the things I would want to see there is the play of Joel Embiid and James Harden.  Now, if one – or both – happen to need a night off to rest up, my interest in watching that game would evaporate about 5 minutes into the first quarter.

And that brings me to my final comparison sport – – college basketball.  I love college basketball; my long-suffering wife has to plan our social life around Conference Tournament Week and March Madness every year.  Notwithstanding the superior skill level demonstrated by NBA teams, I far prefer to watch college basketball to pro basketball.  And having said that, college basketball is so over-exposed on TV that it has become a travesty.

Last weekend, the Washington Post dutifully reported on the various sporting events that would be available to people who had access to various over-the-air channels and cable sports channels in this area.  For Saturday and Sunday there were 31 different college basketball games available and a couple of them were available as replays on channels that did not carry the games live.  Let me do some math for you;

• 31 games involve 62 teams.
• These were not 62 of the 68 teams that will compete in March Madness 2023.  In fact, some of the games involved teams where I was only half-aware that the school competed in Division 1 college basketball.
• College basketball – a sport that I love – is grossly overexposed on TV!

Like MLB, college basketball used to have a regional college game on the weekends along with a national game.  Here in the DC area, we could watch the best ACC game on a weekend and also find a game between – say – UCLA/Notre Dame.  If that is the weekend menu; that is “appointment TV”.   If my TV menu includes Quinnipiac versus Niagara, I would choose to rearrange my sock drawer instead of tuning in.

The NFL has found the “sweet spot”.  It puts lots of games on the air to gather an audience and develop widespread interest.  At the same time, it minimizes the out of area coverage for “meaningless games” and uses scheduling flexibility to assure a good game in most of the big-time viewing slots.  And every regular season game has significant meaning in terms of playoffs and potential championships.  The other major sports in the US have not figured out how to do that – – and unless they do they will never overtake the NFL as a valuable TV property.

Last weekend, the NFL semi-final games drew audiences of around 50 million viewers – – give or take a couple million.  The Super Bowl in two weeks will certainly play to an audience of 95 million viewers or more,  Consider these data:

• 2022 March Madness Final Game attracted 18.1 million viewers
• 2022 FIFA World Cup Final Game attracted 16.8 million viewers (in the US)
• 2022 NBA Final Series averaged 12.4 million viewers
• 2022 MLB World Series averaged 11.8 million viewers
• 2022 NHL Stanley Cup Finals averaged 4.9 million viewers (in the US)

The disparity in the audiences is massive.  I believe the key factors are the importance of every week’s games in the NFL tied to the scheduling that makes fans appreciate the league as well as the local team that fans root for.  Other sports need to do a lot of catching up along those lines…

Finally, since today’s rant was about the NFL’s dominance of the TV marketplace, let me close with this observation from former Jets’ coach Herm Edwards that may have some relevance to the Super Bowl game in two weeks:

“One thing you know about playoff competition is this: If you have a hot quarterback and your defense can take the ball away, you don’t need to have a dominant defense anymore.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

I ran across a report recently that led with the following sentence:

“The NFL suffered a slight decrease in television viewership for the 2022 regular season.”

I wondered if this was going to be another “Chicken Little” piece pondering the demise of the NFL’s popularity.  Items of that nature have gotten traction over the past 5-10 years even though they bear little if any relationship to reality.  Fortunately this report was simply stating the facts and let its readers know that with this second sentence:

“But that was due mainly to turning “Thursday Night Football” into a streaming-only property.”

In 2021, Thursday Night Football was telecast on NFL Network and/or FOX and/or Amazon Prime Video; in 2022, it was only streamed on Amazon.  The simple fact of the matter is that the Thursday games in 2021 were available in more households than was the case in 2022 and so the average viewership for an NFL regular season game was down 2% to 16.7 million viewers.  That includes some of the “eyesore games” from last year like Bears/Texans and still the average was 16.7 million fans in front of their TV sets.

In a normal TV year – – meaning one without a Presidential inauguration or the funeral of a beloved world icon – – the Oscars ceremony is a top TV draw.  Last year, the Oscars had an audience of 16.6 million viewers – – ever so slightly below the average NFL regular season game.  That is one perspective on the NFL’s dominance of TV ratings and here is another:

• NFL regular season games accounted for 47 of the Top 50 telecasts from September 2022 – – the start of the NFL regular season – – through the end of 2022.

And what were the “other three” TV shows that cracked that “Top 50 List”?

1. Ohio St./Georgia in the CFP Semi-Finals (ranked 26^th)
2. Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (ranked 27^th)
3. Michigan/TCU in the CFP Semi-Finals (ranked 30^th)

Football is not in the process of wasting away as a source of entertainment in the US.  Yes, it is a violent sport and yes, the players can suffer significant long-term injuries and disabilities related to their playing that violent sport.  And maybe some day in the distant future, there will be a significant decrease in interest in that violent sport.  But that day is not today and it certainly does not look as if that day is imminent.

And by the way, when the NFL began its playoffs, the audiences grew significantly.  Just in the first round of the playoffs the Giants/Vikes game drew 33 million viewers while the smallest audience for one of those wild card games was the Jags/Chargers game with a mere 22 million viewers.  Last weekend, the Eagles/Niners audience was 47.5 million and the Chiefs/Bengals audience was 53.1 million viewers.

Those numbers – combined with an anticipated audience of about 95 million viewers for the Super Bowl in two weeks – is the reason advertisers pay top dollar to put their messages on NFL telecasts; and in turn, that is why the networks pay ridiculous amounts of money to the NFL to be able to put the games on the air.  Amazon Prime Video is “dragging down” the average viewership for the year; nonetheless, Amazon in paying the NFL $1B annually to present 15 games on Thursday nights or approximately $67M per game.

Another “drag” on average viewership for NFL games is the expansion in the number of international games.  It makes plenty of economic sense for the NFL to try to grow the game overseas, but the fact is that games in Europe televised at 9:00 AM on Sunday on the east coast and 6:00 AM on the west coast do not draw big audiences no matter what network has the game(s).  In any event, the NFL has already announced that it will play 5 games in Europe in 2023 and that 5 AFC teams will be the home team in those games.  [Aside:  AFC teams will host 9 regular season games next year so having those teams as the home team in Europe does not cause any NFC team to have only 7 home games on the schedule.  The only outlier in that scheduling structure would be Jax who has a deal to play a game in Wembley Stadium (London) even when the AFC teams have only 8 home games.)

The five host teams next year will be:

• Jags, Bills and Titans – – in London
• Pats, Chiefs – – in site(s) to be announced but presumed to be in Germany.

The five visiting teams and the dates for the various games have not been announced yet and presumably will not be announced until May of this year which is the traditional time for the official release of the full NFL schedule.

Finally, let me close today with a random entry from The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm:

“Link:  Diminutive of ‘hyperlink’ or the coded element placed in an electronic communication that allows navigation to another Internet location.  In 90 percent of emails sent by your annoying friends, this link will get you to a viral video about some guy who does incredibly realistic sidewalk paintings or an inspiring story about a polar bear who made friends with a ferret.

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………