“There’s too much money involved for it to be fixed,” seemed to be the mantra of the mob that follows the National Football League (NFL) but isn’t that precisely the reason why the games would be fixed.
Doesn’t it make sense that the teams that draw the highest viewing audiences compete for the gold. Just like in professional wrestling, those wrestlers most attractive to the audience will always win. So it is in the NFL as the viewing audience increases, the television networks get richer and they feed their riches back to the owners. Name me one billionaire who isn’t interested in gathering in more billions. Name me one team owner who doesn’t want to see the value of his franchise increase.
The largest audience ever to watch a Super Bowl was last year at a reported 112.2 million viewers. The game was allegedly watched in over 53 million of the 115 million homes in America. I’m not sure how they do the counting, probably in the same manner as the rating agencies that gave the big banks Triple A ratings just before their collapse, they pull the figures out of thin air. The only ones checking on them are those rating agencies.
But it doesn’t matter whether they are accurate as long as people believe them. Last year’s numbers had to have raised a lot of eyebrows. Anyone who spent much time watching the Seattle Seahawks dismantling of the Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos 43 to 8 had to be pretty brain-dead. It would have been more interesting watching your fingernails grow .
What is strange about the whole episode was Forbes Magazine predicted it would be the most viewed of all time almost as if it had to be to make the advertisers who paid 4 million dollars for a 30 second advertisement pleased with their expenditure. Except for 2013 when the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers coached by brothers played, when only 108.41 million watched, the audience has increased steadily since 2005 when it was 86.07 million. This gives it a 30% increase over 10 years which is strange and seems to support the idea the numbers are fabricated given that over the previous 10 years the audience went from 83.42 million in 1995 to 89.79 in 2004 or 7%.
It’s not only the Super Bowl that has to have ever-increasing audiences to make the rich richer the playoff games likewise have to attract more and more watchers so that the advertisers will fork out more and more money to be heard and seen. What attracts the viewers are the teams and their personalities . The 2014 Super Bowl played outdoors and close by New York City featured the larger than life come-back kid Peyton Manning and the irrepressible Pete Carroll and the two teams that were the top seeded in the league.
To top last year and to avoid the idea that no matter who plays the attendance must increase until pretty soon over 100% of the households in the U.S. will be said to have watched the Super Bowl, the NFL has to do its best to ensure that the teams in the Super Bowl are those that during the year have the best story line. That’s why if you are a betting man then look for a re-Pete of last year’s champion Pete Carroll’s Seahawks and the gutsy America footballer Tom Brady, his darling Giselle, and his Patriots. It pits the two best active NFL coaches against each other. Bill Belichick constantly ranks number one; Pete Carroll as number two.
None of the other teams with a shot at the Super Bowl would attract the audience of that game. That’s why I can say before the game the Patriots have won. The Patriot’s have their destiny set. The NFL does not want the Ravens (2013 rating flop) or the Broncos (after being slaughtered last year) in the Super Bowl.
Just keep in mind what happened last week between America’s team the Dallas Cowboys who attract a large TV audience because of their outstanding cheerleaders and the bankrupt City of Detroit’s Lions. Get serious. You don’t think the NFL wants the Lions who haven’t won a playoff game since 1991 plodding along through the playoffs. They make sure they lose even if it has to be as obvious as it was with the picking up of the penalty flag. It was a blatant fix because the mantra of the mob says it would never happen. Even President Obama held his nose. As profootball talk of NBCsports wrote: “The Cowboys [with Romo] and the Packers [with Rodgers] at Lambeau Field is what the NFL is all about. Even if Lions fans think it should be their team moving on.”
Truer words were never spoken. Let’s keep in mind what the NFL is all about which is money. Place your bets and hopes accordingly.
Matt,
A little egg on your face here after the no catch call against Dez Bryant? Dallas Cowboys surely have a much larger market than little ole Green Bay. How can you say that no PI call was rigged to let Dallas advance and then have the refs call Bryant’s play a no-catch?
Stick to crime and politics, leave sports alone!
Dave:
You have to admit that the Dez Bryant call could have gone either way. He took two if not three steps holding the ball tight before he stumbled to the ground. The refs on the field gave it to him; and you have to admit that the week before it was a clear interference call that was changed. So there is reason to wonder whether the games are not quite on the level. I think with Green Bay and Dallas you have to consider what quarterback would bring more attention to the Seattle match up which we know Seattle wins. Is it Romo or Rodgers> Perhaps the league decided Rodgers would be more exciting. The NFL bosses wanted a Denver/Patriots rematch this year at Foxboro which the Patriots are scheduled to win. Unfortunately Manning despite all the breaks in the world could not throw the ball within ten feet of any of his receivers. So even the bet intentions and plans go awry.
But you are absolutely right, I know very little about sports and should probably leave it alone but I get tempted every once in a while to offer an opinion that often turns out to be incorrect. But isn’t that one of the nice things about sports that we can all pretend to be an expert and a seven year old can argue the merits of a player or a play with her seventy year old grandfather and both can be convinced they are right.
Mr. MATT , me thinks you might be a bit of a cynic , which IMHO places you in good company. My sense is that you’re on to something as far as the N.F.L. is concerned. What about GOVERNMENT ? Would you share the same level of skepticism w/ regards to government statistics ,e.g., unemployment figures, inflation , cost – of – living , crime stats, etc ….. Personally, I think that all such data by gov’t. entities are completely fudged and not @ all on the level. Just one man’s opinion …. GO PATS !
Gus:
The good thing is no one believes me about the NFL being fixed despite all the proof I have shown and continue to show such as the bogus call against Dallas’s wide receiver. I sat there during the Pats game very relaxed even though they had fallen down twice by 14 points and assured my fellow watchers that the fix was in and there was no way the Ravens would win. I admit it takes the suspense out of the game knowing the outcome before it starts but it is always interesting to see how they manage to pull it off. As you now the Colts were supposed to lose but Manning has lost all ability to throw the ball which was not predictable so they will meet the Patriots; but, as my sheet tells me its going to be a Patriots/Seahawks Super Bowl so it didn’t matter that much.
A long time ago I realized the government statistics are fixed. With respect to inflation it has been increasing steadily as anyone with half a brain knows but the government had it at only one to two percent. The trickery there was that they’d value a computer A by Dell with certain features at its selling price of $2,000; the next year computer B with increased storage, memory, speed, etc would sell for $2,000 and computer A for $1,200. In measuring inflation they would look at Computer A and say the value decreased which would offset those other areas like food and housing where things were skyrocketing. So the advances in technology where as years passed you’d get more for the money served as bringing inflation down when it really didn’t.
Remember statistics like criminals lie and the government operates on statistics.