NFL Offseason Thread

[BBTV]

2 hours ago, dfwabel said:

Monday Night Football to be "flexed" under new TV rights dead? and possibly return to ABC?

 

SBJ excerpt:

 

 

As a former stadium employee, I can tell that the arena-management companies will hate this.  Getting 300ish event staff (ushers, ticket takers, etc. - not food-service employees) to work an unscheduled Monday night would be rough.

 

Also just for fans in general it sucks a monkey's anus - especially if that weekend is your 'road trip' game.

 

I'd like to think the NFL wouldn't do this to their fans, but...

[DG_ThenNowForever]

3 minutes ago, BringBackTheVet said:

 

As a former stadium employee, I can tell that the arena-management companies will hate this.  Getting 300ish event staff (ushers, ticket takers, etc. - not food-service employees) to work an unscheduled Monday night would be rough.

 

Also just for fans in general it sucks a monkey's anus - especially if that weekend is your 'road trip' game.

 

I'd like to think the NFL wouldn't do this to their fans, but...

 

Sunday day to Sunday night is one thing, but people buy plane tickets to see games. This is beyond regular people's ability to plan ahead reasonably.

[Walk-Off]

On 2/10/2020 at 5:07 PM, Maroon said:

Ticket $$$$ ya'll. Having one of the greatest QBs of all time on your team? Who could want to prove that he can win rings anywhere? Energize a fanbase even if for just a season or two? I mean, the Chiefs were interested in Montana even though he hadn't really played for two seasons and was in his late 30s. Admittedly, that's a whole lot younger than 43, even. But Brady also hasn't had the injury history of even a lot of the younger QBs. 

 

@Maroon, the factors that you mention are some of the reasons why I think that the Los Angeles Chargers, despite how "poor" Dean Spanos is when compared to such owners as the Rams' Stan Kroenke or even the Patriots' own Robert Kraft, could be fierce rivals to the Pats for Brady's services this offseason.  Other things that could help the Chargers lure Brady are one of the most generous amounts of salary cap space of any NFL team this offseason; plenty of uncertainty over who will be the Bolts' next first-string quarterback; a strong chance for Brady to play many home games before crowds filled with celebrities from the realms of film, television, and music; and a likely yearning throughout the Chargers organization for a huge boost of not only ticket revenue, but also attention, respect, and prestige as the Bolts leave behind a soccer stadium that they struggled to sell out and begin to crash indefinitely at the Rams' new pad in Inglewood.

 

Those are the upsides for the Chargers and however many fans they have these days when it comes to the team's ability to bring Brady aboard.  Meanwhile, the biggest downside for the Bolts and their present fanbase is that Mr. Spanos, given what many of us NFL fans have come to learn about him and his brain, may have all too easy a time being his own worst enemy during a pursuit of a player of Brady's stature.

[AustinFromBoston]

Brady isn't going to go to a team for a gimmick. If he does leave NE (which I almost 100% doubt) he's going to want to go to a team that's competitive. 

Maybe if Antonio Gates didn't retire, but regardless he's definitely not going to a team that will be worse than the Patriots. 

[Walk-Off]

On 2/10/2020 at 6:09 PM, dfwabel said:

Monday Night Football to be "flexed" under new TV rights deal? and possibly return to ABC?

 

A decade or so ago, while I was perusing my Facebook feed, I came across a post in which a man complained about a certain subpar (or at least unattractive) NFL game being played in a weeknight timeslot on cable and he asked why the league did not flex a more enticing matchup into that night and onto whatever cable channel had the rights for that night.  I replied to him that having games swap timeslots within the same calendar day is logistically much easier than flip-flopping games between calendar days and that his wish would cause a lot of inconvenience and general difficulty for practically all of those with reasons to be at a game in person -- players, coaches, other personnel for each team, league personnel, media personnel, people working in "average Joe" jobs at the stadium on game day, and especially spectators.  From what I remember, he remained unconvinced after I had made my point, which led me to conclude that he was thinking only of what could benefit him as a television viewer.

 

If ESPN is so eager to televise NFL games that are eligible for and subject to flex scheduling, then I am glad that the company at least might be willing to air such games on ABC.  However, I think that instead of making Sunday afternoon games able to be flexed to Monday nights and vice versa, the NFL should grant Sunday night game rights packages to both NBC and ABC -- with each of the packages having an emphasis on the away games of a particular conference, just as Fox has an afternoon game package which favors NFC teams' away games and CBS has an afternoon game package that leans toward AFC teams' away games.  Either NBC, as the incumbent holder of Sunday night NFL game rights, could choose which conference would be the focus of its package and force ABC to accept the Sunday night package concentrating on the other conference, or the league could gather executives from those two networks together for a meeting, have those bigwigs witness the toss of a coin with NBC's peacock symbol on one side and the "abc" circle logo on the other, and grant the choice of favored conference to the network whose emblem is facing upward when the coin lands.

[FiddySicks]

6 hours ago, tp49 said:

So at that rate aren't you just trading one level of overall ineptitude for another?

 

Goddamn right. 

[GDAWG]

 

[Tracy Jordan]

Yeah I just don't see how the league could pull off flexing a Sunday game to Monday night. ESPN is basically stuck with what they have, unless they want to try and outbid NBC for the rights to Sunday Night Football, which I doubt would ever happen. This is what happens when there's too many primetime packages to fill, there's just not enough marquee games to go around between TNF, SNF and MNF (plus the FOX and CBS afternoon slots).

 

There's probably no way of doing this due to NBC getting the best games, but MNF should go back to it's pre-2006 schedule format where playoff teams from the year before were rewarded by being almost exclusively featured, while all the teams with bad records from the previous year were left out. But to do this, the NFL would have to take some of these good matchups away from the TNF schedule. In a perfect world, TNF would be reduced down to 8 mediocre matchups played late in the season like it used to be, which would free up some better games for MNF. This way, high-profile teams like the Chiefs and 49ers could have multiple MNF appearances which would draw higher ratings, and you can put them back on ABC. I know it's a fantasy, but this would be so much better.

 

[IceCap]

6 hours ago, FiddySicks said:

 

Goddamn right. 

I used to be a Chargers fan and I'm a Leafs fan. These are the waters I'm most comfortable swimming in. 

[BBTV]

I wouldn’t be able to become a fan of a team that I didn’t have some kind of prior allegiance to if they had uniforms like Tampa’s. Maybe wait to see if/what they switch to this year before going all-in. 

[Red Comet]

 

Don't know where else to put this. Always felt like after watching NFL Films as a kid I wanted to knock a mother:censored:er on the ground like I was Derrick Thomas. And now here it is. An NFL Films video of my team winning the Super Bowl? Feels good man. Makes me feel like a kid again. I only wish Derrick Thomas would've worn a seat belt so he could be here to enjoy it.

 

[GDAWG]

 

[GDAWG]

 

[TBGKon]

Ok so the Bridgewater sweepstakes is on....assuming that NO doesnt pay him bank to be QB in waiting, unless Hill is their heir apparent.

[dfwabel]

2 hours ago, TBGKon said:

Ok so the Bridgewater sweepstakes is on....assuming that NO doesnt pay him bank to be QB in waiting, unless Hill is their heir apparent.

That's their problem.

 

Brees doesn't look like a guy who would take pay cut. He needs all the money for his dozens of real estate/restaurant franchise holdings (Dunkin', Jimmy John's and Walk-ons plus Goff, Rodgers and Wilson are north of $30M since his last contract.

 

Plus Kamara is in a contract year himself.

 

Saints are not in a good position.

[GDAWG]

 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

1 hour ago, GDAWG said:

 

 

Cool for Seattle, but he would have been beloved forever in Buffalo. Bills fans will deify any name free agent that choo-choo-chooses them.

[dont care]

11 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

Cool for Seattle, but he would have been beloved forever in Buffalo. Bills fans will deify any name free agent that choo-choo-chooses them.

You say that like it’s only bills fans who would act that way for a free agent

[GDAWG]

 

[~Bear]

I don't know how to feel about this. The 17 games seem inevitable to happen at some point, but 7-team playoffs? Another tweet said the NFL wants that this year, which would mean the #1 seed is the only team with a bye and another wildcard team would make it. I don't think I'm a fan. Watering down the playoffs seems pointless and a measly cash grab that will lessen the already-sometimes-questionable Wild Card round.