NFL 2015: Playoffs: Divisional

Gumbie wrote:

We are forever linked in AFC south misery.

SESTRA

IMAGE(http://i.giphy.com/hK9H2ab7l1QVW.gif)

Peter King had some interesting behind-the-scenes of the LA vote at the owners meeting (haven't watched the video, just read the writeup in my RSS reader).

I agree with Clark Hunt. I think the Rams to Inglewood was the right LA move, and I agree that having it be *only* the Rams would have been the best move.

NFL plans permanent UK (London) Team in the next 6 years

Which as a British person who likes American football, screw that sh*t. I would have zero interest in supporting a London based team, I really don't think the NFL folk have any idea how regional rivalies play over here. I would feel more connected with the team I pulled out of a mini steelers helmat about 5 years ago (go Texans, stupid hat of fate) than any team based in London and I reckon most other fans of the game would feel the same. They all already have teams.

Also that letter by the Seahawks fan is basically the reason why I really hate the Seahawks because their fans are so far up themselves in their own "we are so awesome"ness it is truely annoying. The team can talk about how awesome their fans are, the fans should never talk about how awesome they think they are. Pretty much every professional sports team in the the Western World does work within the community. Hell Leeds Rhinos prop foward Adam Cuthbertson, went to a kids' ward on Christmas Day to hand out presents to the sicks kids. You know what we said "what a top bloke" not "what a top bloke, who has the bestest fans in the whole world backing him up and promoting how awesome we are for having supporting our top bloke"

If they plan to do it by 2022, then it is unlikely it will be the Jaguars (despite the article hinting at that) given that the Jaguars are locked into a lease through 2030, and it would be very expensive to get out of it before then.

If I had to put money on it, I would figure on an expansion franchise in London. And as I've mentioned here before, I feel like expansion is going to be back on the table very swiftly after Los Angeles is sorted out. Which, given the events of the past couple of weeks, is a brick wall that has finally crumbled.

I think this will be a 36 team league by 2030. Two teams in the early 2020s and two more at the tail end of the decade.

My buddy's from Hastings and is a Cardinals fan. He said the exact same thing as you did, onewild.

I guess I should take consolation that my team did go pretty deep into the playoffs and maybe some people are jeally. Am I doing this right?

It's also that all the players are still young and with the drafting ability shown by the front office, there is no end to the Seattle dynasty in sight... as opposed to 3 of teams playing this weekend relying on QBs in their 30's.

Minase wrote:
I guess I should take consolation that my team did go pretty deep into the playoffs and maybe some people are jeally. Am I doing this right?

It's also that all the players are still young and with the drafting ability shown by the front office, there is no end to the Seattle dynasty in sight... as opposed to 3 of teams playing this weekend relying on QBs in their 30's.

The problem with having a really good team is those rookie contracts run out, and things get really expensive. Every team has a core group you can make a run with, and then you have to reload.

Also, I was curious, so I checked out Seattle's drafts over at PFR; did I miss something where the team actually IS drafting well, as opposed to WAS drafting well from 2010-2012? The last three drafts look pretty paltry; while I'm not watching Seahawks games consistently, I follow football very closely and outside of Lockett this year and Luke Wilson two years ago, I'm not seeing much name recognition there.

I am sure expansion will work for them, money-wise. I don't see how it works quality-of-play-wise within the current rules. QBs are just too important right now and there are already what, less than 20 quality QBs that you can go to the playoffs with? I think the rules need to be tweaked so the fate of a whole team rests less on a single position before they expand further.

LeapingGnome wrote:

I am sure expansion will work for them, money-wise. I don't see how it works quality-of-play-wise within the current rules. QBs are just too important right now and there are already what, less than 20 quality QBs that you can go to the playoffs with? I think the rules need to be tweaked so the fate of a whole team rests less on a single position before they expand further.

I'll admit I didn't catch much football this year outside the Packers but the consensus from friends that quality wise it was down.

Maybe some people in this thread would disagree about this year but what are they doing to make sure a 36 team league is not just diluted.

I don't watch NCAA sports for that reason. Once you start trending towards averageness I just can't stay invested.

onewild wrote:

Also that letter by the Seahawks fan is basically the reason why I really hate the Seahawks because their fans are so far up themselves in their own "we are so awesome"ness it is truely annoying. The team can talk about how awesome their fans are, the fans should never talk about how awesome they think they are. Pretty much every professional sports team in the the Western World does work within the community. Hell Leeds Rhinos prop foward Adam Cuthbertson, went to a kids' ward on Christmas Day to hand out presents to the sicks kids. You know what we said "what a top bloke" not "what a top bloke, who has the bestest fans in the whole world backing him up and promoting how awesome we are for having supporting our top bloke"

BUT DO THEY GIVE KIDS FOOTBALLS AFTER TDS? Because every time someone says something negative about Cam all I hear OMG HE GIVES FOOTBALLS TO KIDS YOU MONSTER.

onewild wrote:

NFL plans permanent UK (London) Team in the next 6 years

Which as a British person an Angeleno who likes American football, screw that sh*t. I would have zero interest in supporting a London Los Angeles based team, I really don't think the NFL folk have any idea how regional rivalies play over here. I would feel more connected with the team I pulled out of a mini steelers helmat about 5 years ago (go Texans, stupid hat of fate) than any team based in London Los Angeles and I reckon most other fans of the game would feel the same. They all already have teams.

FTFY.

You basically have a generation (and mostly the target 21-50 year old male) of people in LA who have never had a hometown pro team. If they are football fans, they are fans of other teams and having an LA team suddenly pop up isn't going to make them change their loyalties. If they grew up not interested in the first place I doubt this will suddenly make them fans either. Yes there are old people who will laud the fact that the rams have come home and hopefully they can build a new generation of LA pro football fans, but lets be honest.. this is all a money play, pure and simple.

besides now that LA is off the table they need another city to use as blackmail bait for a new stadium.

Hey first time long time lurker who just wanted to say we all know the reason white women hate a successful Black man like Cam. Seattle has this veneer of being so progressive but from what I've seen firsthand it's about as racist as anywhere on the planet. But I guess the good news is it sounds like her kid won't grow up to be yet another annoying 12.

Also, really hoping Cam goes all the way. Not because I have any real ties to Carolina but because I want Cam to stick it to all the haters out there who see Brady as the great white hope.

Djangounleashed wrote:

Hey first time long time lurker who just wanted to say we all know the reason white women hate a successful Black man like Cam. Seattle has this veneer of being so progressive but from what I've seen firsthand it's about as racist as anywhere on the planet. But I guess the good news is it sounds like her kid won't grow up to be yet another annoying 12.

Also, really hoping Cam goes all the way. Not because I have any real ties to Carolina but because I want Cam to stick it to all the haters out there who see Brady as the great white hope.

Did you just talk sh*t about a kid with cancer? Wow you're the f*cking worst dude, hope you can sleep well at night thinking about that one.

And I guess that's why you don't joke about blowing up bad fans, as it emboldens people to come out of the woodwork to drag things down further.

Sorry, all.

Nevermind - I'm going to assume that the guy above just has a sick sense of humor.

NOPE.

jowner wrote:
LeapingGnome wrote:

I am sure expansion will work for them, money-wise. I don't see how it works quality-of-play-wise within the current rules. QBs are just too important right now and there are already what, less than 20 quality QBs that you can go to the playoffs with? I think the rules need to be tweaked so the fate of a whole team rests less on a single position before they expand further.

I'll admit I didn't catch much football this year outside the Packers but the consensus from friends that quality wise it was down.

Maybe some people in this thread would disagree about this year but what are they doing to make sure a 36 team league is not just diluted.

I don't watch NCAA sports for that reason. Once you start trending towards averageness I just can't stay invested.

No way this works out. Number of kids participating in HS and Pop Warner are trending down. The next gen of kids is going to be even smaller as lacrosse takes over.

So to get my mind off of my earlier rage, I hadn't had a chance to comment on the whole England expansion thing. On one hand, I'm really happy to see the English embracing football which seemed unthinkable when I lived there almost 20 years ago. That being said, I don't think it makes sense to have one team that will need to travel 8+ hours to games on the East Coast and 12+ hours to the West Coast. I wouldn't do an expansion unless there were at least 4 European teams who could play each other in the same time zone with occasional forays over to the States.

Also curious why the NFL isn't doing more cross-play with CFL teams or expanding into Mexico first.

London 'works' the same way LA does.

There's just so much money and people that unless they are priced out or the stadium is in a ridiculous location they will sell tickets.

2 of my friends from Canada who live in London had tickets to all 3 games this year. I have a friend who's a raiders fan (also EPL fan) who flew out and caught the Raiders in London + some soccer matches.

The demographic of sports tourism and just ex pat north Americans will keep London profitable.

Also it 'works' as it drives TV revenue.

Will they make good fanbases? Probably not for a generation but until then its going to print money.

If the NFL cared more about the game vs $$$ south is probably a better option. I don't see the NFL catching on in Europe to the point we have European youth leagues and then talent to help the dilution.

Maybe the secret is getting India to play football. I can't wait for Singh vs Patel. Has way better ring to it than Brady vs Manning.

My sense is we're at peak football. It's an American cultural product that doesn't translate well to other societies and even here, demographics and cultural sensitivities are undermining the whole point of the game. It's not going to disappear overnight and revenues at the NFL/college levels could even grow for a bit longer but I'm very comfortable predicting a long, slow decline for the sport overall. It'll still be here in the future but boxing shows us its path, imo.

Top_Shelf wrote:

My sense is we're at peak football. It's an American cultural product that doesn't translate well to other societies and even here, demographics and cultural sensitivities are undermining the whole point of the game. It's not going to disappear overnight and revenues at the NFL/college levels could even grow for a bit longer but I'm very comfortable predicting a long, slow decline for the sport overall. It'll still be here in the future but boxing shows us its path, imo.

You mean there with be an UFC-type incursion in football? I'm all for that!

garion333 wrote:
Top_Shelf wrote:

My sense is we're at peak football. It's an American cultural product that doesn't translate well to other societies and even here, demographics and cultural sensitivities are undermining the whole point of the game. It's not going to disappear overnight and revenues at the NFL/college levels could even grow for a bit longer but I'm very comfortable predicting a long, slow decline for the sport overall. It'll still be here in the future but boxing shows us its path, imo.

You mean there with be an UFC-type incursion in football? I'm all for that!

Lacrosse is already doing it and rugby's got a chance to do it, too.

The fundamental appeal of football is its violence. Period. Rugby can offer physical confrontation without the excessiveness of football. Also, the stop/go nature of football is a benefit and curse. Benefit in that it puts great emphasis on play-running/calling/tactics and curse in that it slows down the game. Both lacrosse and rugby trade play-calling for speed and fluidity which fits more with our fast-moving world.

Of course, I could be totally off and we're looking at one world NFL in 20yrs with teams on every continent and revenues in the trillions.

I don't see lacrosse every being super popular. Rugby, yes. Lacrosse, no. It's got the issue where the ball is too small to see on tv and live in person.

I can't imagine London is anything but another tool for the NFL like LA was. Having that hanging out there as a threat is a good way to force cities to upgrade stadiums on tax dollars or lose their team.

Edit

And adding another 4 NFL teams to the existing mix sounds like a horrible idea.. the product is already diluted as is.. if anything we need to be taking away teams rather than adding (no shot in hell though)

Yep pretty much, it is not coincidence they are ramping up the rhetoric about it now. And lacrosse will remain a small niche. IMO soccer will overtake football before lacrosse or rubgy.

I read that the la rams already have 45k locks fire season tickets.

A far as foorball popularity, until there is a decrease in profits our buyers all talk of decline is just talk.

Football isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Rugby might have a chance as some exposure but Lacrosse will never be anything but niche. I think if football was to decrease then the focus is more likely to move back to baseball or basketball than it is to embrace some new sport (Soccer doesn't count here as its popularity in the states has had many opportunities to catch on and hasn't)

But in the end, Football isn't going anywhere. To think it might is a reflection of your own dissatisfaction in the sport and not really a reflection of profits.

I would imagine soccer growth must be on a gradual incline. Otherwise why would NBC sports pick up the Premier League? But yeah, its not going to cut into football profits.

EvilDead wrote:

I would imagine soccer growth must be on a gradual incline. Otherwise why would NBC sports pick up the Premier League? But yeah, its not going to cut into football profits.

Soccer's been on a gradual incline for years and years; the 1994 World Cup was the first time soccer was really going to take off that I recall, and it seems like every World Cup is supposed to be the trigger. Football is going to be at risk as fewer young people start playing it, but that's going to lead to rule changes to make the game less about hard hitting. It'll always be a violent sport, but I'd bet the NFL will at some point create an Official Football Commission Thing to "work with" college and high school, and basically come up with safer rules. It's not going to vanish, it's going to change. Too much money in it otherwise.

Lacrosse? No way. It's a huge youth sport around here, and I've got a friend whose kid has done some national travel and he's done a bunch of coaching. He doesn't watch lacrosse, he watches football. Lacrosse will suffer for the same reason hockey suffers, it's hard to follow on TV.

Enix

I saw your video on youtube, good stuff man.