I learned a few days ago that tonight is the start of the NFL Draft. For many years this date was marked on my calendar months out, and today I don’t even now in which city it will be held. That was then; this is now.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost four years since I got tired of being insulted by the NFL and walked away from decades of fandom. Then two years later the league was kind enough to offer several reasons to affirm my decision. So now we check in at 2024, and the league is going to improve play by… having the referees throw more penalty flags for… (checks notes) tackling? Yes, it looks like the NFL is doing all that it can to alienate the kind of fans who turned the league into an empire. And yet, with all of these bad moves in the last few years, the league is getting more viewers than ever. Why? No, it’s not thanks to Taylor Swift, although this has helped the league in the all important 13 year old girl demographic. The answer is far simpler: gambling.
For those unfamiliar, fantasy football (FF) is a game that allows a group of friends (or strangers) to pick various players for their fantasy team and compete based on how those player perform each week. Although FF has been around since the 1980s, it really took off around Y2K with the rise of the internet – the perfect tool for tracking and communicating in real time. But the NFL’s Great Leap Forward in popularity had its roots in the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. Short explanation: a law written to regulate online gambling left a carveout for fantasy sports. Fast forward a few years and outfits like Draft Kings launched fantasy based sports gambling. It didn’t take long to jump from professional sports leagues giving a coy wink and nod to the notion of gambling, punishing the occasional player who got caught up in it (for which Philadelphia Phillies great Pete Rose has become the poster child) to where now the NHL and NFL have franchises in Las Vegas.
I won’t recap the legacy of Colon Kaepernick and the BLM protests, but viewership took a dip as a result of the NFL endorsing the Marxists. The league dialed back glorifying them, but never left it behind. They continue to sing the “Black National Anthem” before certain games (while not answering the question of where that “nation” resides), while continuing to plaster Marxist slogans in their end zones. Many forgave and returned, and I’m not among them. As a result of openly embracing gambling, the league found a way to replace the fans who loved the game with fans of gambling on the game. It was while watching this video from the always great Jason Whitlock that I finally pieced together that the changes that the league has been making over the last few years (I read the occasional news story on the league and my Eagles fandom rubbed off onto Sister Babe and she regularly watches their games when they broadcast here) have been all in the name of expanding gambling tied viewership. Hell, Commissioner Goodell has gotten arrogant enough to not unequivocally rule out ever having the Super Bowl in London. As the post concluded, “Probably, but only when the money is right”.
The NFL has set itself up quite well for short term gain, but long term ruin. The league can look no further than the examples of Las Vegas and Atlantic city to understand how fickle gambling can be as a draw. Years ago Las Vegas decided to diversify from gambling to offer many other entertainment options, including family friendly. Atlantic City’s casinos (and yes, a certain US President had a hand in this) did nothing for the city off of the boardwalk, and the results speak for themselves. I still have a box in my attic full of Eagles gear that has too much sentimental value to simply dump out of hope that the league will be back in my lifetime. The NFL will change out of necessity from the current unsustainable model, but what it will be I have no idea. And given how much the country is changing, by the time it happens I don’t know if I’ll still have any interest by the time the gamblers move on to the next shiny thing and the league tries to lure back us Normals.
Feature image was generated by the IMG To Go AI Art generator.
Mixed emotions headed into tonight’s #NFLDraft
On the one hand:
My childhood team, the Chicago Bears, are drafting the best quarterback prospect in NFL history after my whole life has had crappy QBsOn the other hand:
NFL is woke, I barely watched last yesterday, trying to… pic.twitter.com/z9skekXR91— BowTiedKong (@BowTiedKong) April 25, 2024
For me, the good news is that the woke black racists in pro team sports have totally killed off my interest in the NFL, NBA, and MLB. The only sport I occasionally watch today is European soccer (always liked soccer).
I've been delighted with the results — a HUGE saving in cost… https://t.co/BlgkDgi2nF— Richard Rider (@SD_TaxFighters) April 21, 2024
Brother Bob is no longer on Facebook (although you can see his archives there), and is back on Twitter again, but is ramping up on Minds and Gab, and has his biggest presence on MeWe.
Cross posted from Brother Bob’s Blog
I think with the Portal college football is not far behind in extinction.
NIL strikes me as a solution where nobody thought through where it might lead
You’ve scored a big win with this essay.
I’d been noticing the new prevalence of gambling ads on baseball, football and even battlebots competitions.
You are correct that the gambler is the new target audience for these sports.
In battlebots of the past (when the competition was in SF then LA) the sponsors were various tech companies.
Now, the competition is held in Vegas and the audience is seated for an hour at a time, shuffled in and out like cattle.
The real money is from the gambling.
I never saw this coming, but you are right.
That is why football, baseball and even battlebots have all changed so much in the last coulple of seasons.
All those ads for gambling sites and warnings about keeping your bets under control…..LOL.
And as Chris Plante pointed out on one of his radio shows, the govt. has become the Mafia. In the Godfather there was some dialogue about going after drugs, gambling, and prostitution, because that’s where the money is. Now that the government has its hands in gambling and drugs, all that’s left is “sex work”
If that annoying Prick Kaeperick was to Leave America we would say Good Bye and Good Ridinece of the annoying whining little pest
It took about a dozen tries, but I really like the image that the AI gave me. My input asked for Colon wearing a rainbow jersey and holding a BLM flag. While this was the only one that came close, I think it captured the essence. I’m genuinely surprised that the Dems haven’t run him for public office. Actually, now that I think about it, they probably did but it wasn’t lucrative enough for him.
It’s about time you woke up.. I stopped watching the NFL in 1984 when they went on strike..That’s when I realized they cared more about money than their fans.
Fair point – I was a teenager at the time and weathered it. But it was the baseball strike of the early 90s that turned me off to that sport
I suggest only watching women’s pro beach volleyball.
Amen to that – a cause we can all get behind!
Neither am I.
Their just asking for it all right as long as t he let that narrow minded Pinhead Kaepernick tell them what to do and we’ll Boycott Nike
Have you personally ever owned anything made by Nike?
Nope and I don’t attend to either Mike the Trike