DON’T GET ME STARTED, all of a sudden, is hoping that some big buck people might repeat what Ralph Wilson started. That is forming a new league.
This NFL, without any input whatsoever from the paying public goes about making one change after another. Let’s not forget the taxes imposed on the fans in helping build new stadiums plus other riches to the owners from the fans. But they get no say-so. Fans get zilch.
They just get a football team that fans can root for but find it’s becoming difficult for a family of four to attend because of the escalating prices. The NFL has become a rich man’s game.
Fans have to accept the changes made by these powerfully rich people. I’ll detail many of them in future articles but right now I want to zero in on the change by the NFL (Rogert Goodell) in moving the draft from late April to May 9, 2014.
The reason? Radio City Music Hall is booked on that date. So what does the NFL do? Rather than make the draft something for NFL cities to look forward to is ignored. Why not schedule the draft in NFL cities. That would help cities reap a lot of money and the interest would be phenomenal. Say, for example, if the draft was held in Buffalo – fans would be coming from Pittsburgh, Cleveland to watch the draft. Right now, I doubt many would be making expensive flights to attend in expensive New York.
Hold the NFL draft in different cities. And let’s not have any of that, “bid for it.” Set up a schedule that includes each city getting the draft once every 32 years.
Let’s remember something. Until the American Football League brought the mighty NFL to its knees, the NFL drafts were held around January or February beginning in 1936 when it was held February 8 in Philadelphia.
Then came the AFL. They began drafting players in November and made Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon the #1 pick in 1959 surprising the NFL The NFL then held drafts in November and December. In 1965 the New York Jets signed Joe Namath for over 4 hundred thousand a year that stunned the established league.
The NFL had no choice but to fight back with drafts in November in 1965 and 1966. The reasoning, probably at that time was to make it harder for a player to make a choice. Take for example, the Chicago Cardinals claiming Gayle Sayers and so did the Chicago Bears. The RB chose the Bears but that indicated the war between the leagues would intensify and cost a bundle for players. That led to the Merger in a couple of years from that time.
In 1970 the NFL began its “Pro-Bowl” following the Super Bowl. That gave the NFL the thrust to move the draft date, which it did after the 1975 season. It was moved to late April until 2014 when Goodell announced it would be aired in early May. And there’s some talk that the NFL might be toying with moving the Super Bowl to a later date as well as some other items.
To which many fans are saying…….nuts! Everyone knows the Pro Bowl is a big joke and becoming an even bigger joke.
If the NFL wants to really make it an all-encompassing enterprise, include one fan from each of the cities to participate in any type of rulemaking. Of course, the money loaded, cigar chomping, liquid drinking guys would say nyet to such a proposal on Don’t Get Me Started.
Filed under: Don't Get Me Started
Tagged with: Art Wander, Buffalo Bills, NFL Draft
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