To Mr. Roger Goodell
January 10th 2011
From TakeOnRighetti.blogspot.com
Mr. Goodell
As an ardent fan of your league I have decided to write you today to try to help you deal with the one of the major issues you have in your league today. The NFL has long been a league where you try to balance your schedule to create the most parity by giving teams coming off good seasons harder schedules and teams coming off bad seasons easier schedules. Although we could argue that sports should not be about parity but instead about dominance we understand your need for competitiveness and believe your league has done an excellent job ensuring a competitive product. One issue which has come up year in and year out is what can be done to get more competition late in the season as teams headed for the playoffs will often rest starters and teams out of it may not put their most competitive lineup on the field as they try to develop their younger players.
This year you created an unbalanced schedule where teams would play more division games later in the season which we all hoped would generate more buzz and would keep teams playing their most competitive lineups into week 17 but after seeing what happened this year when we counted roughly 14 out of 16 games in week 17 had major players missing large chunks of the game.
I think you will notice that your issue comes down to one of pure mathematics, see a divisional game has no more or less bearing on overall record. You can say that they mean more because of rivalries but if one team has no incentive to play their starters as they prefer to rest them to achieve their ultimate goal which would be a trip to the SuperBowl it will not matter if the Eagles play the Giants or the Browns in that week. Even hoping it would spur interest because it may determine a divisional champion on the field it does not click with pure mathematics. If one team needs to win to have a chance to make the playoffs they will play hard regardless of who is in front of them . For example the Seahawks and Rams each had a chance to win the NFC West in the last week of the playoffs but both teams had to win to have a chance. Whether they played on another was ultimately irrelevant.
We believe we have come up with a solution in order to fix this inherent problem which involves incentives. The incentive we have in mind would need one thing..you to dispel a belief which is ingrained in the NFL mantra, that the Super-Bowl must be held on a neutral site.
Other proposed incentives including extra draft-picks, player payouts or other compensation will actual skew your competitive balance by rewarding teams and/or players on good teams which will can only lead to players wanting to play for teams that have a chance to make more money outside of the additional pay they will already receive for making the playoffs not to mention exposure which can lead to endorsements and other off the field exploits.
We believe that the only 'fair' answer is by giving a true home-field advantage to the team with the best record throughout the entire playoffs including the Super-Bowl. Yeah we realize that this could mean the Super Bowl could be held in Green Bay or at New England or in Seattle and weather may be a factor but guess what having the biggest football game of the season in a city which actually cares about football is a good thing.. The arguments we will hear is that there could be weather factors, hotel rooms, half-time shows, celebrities and the entire two weeks of SuperBowl pre-action and frankly they are all tired arguments. At the end of the day, the chance to host a SuperBowl will be enough of an incentive for any team to play 16 games and since there are now 11 other teams whose record you have to consider there will be less scenarios where any particular team will have no reason to sit players.
Let's take them one at a time
- Weather. You have already decided to have a super-bowl in New York in 2014 so there really is no arguement here anymore. The chance to host a super-bowl for the best team in the league will lead to . Obviously some of your most memorable games have happened in bad weather including the Ice Bowl, the Raiders-Patriots and countless cold games in places like Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Lambeau
- Celebrities.. These people live to get onto camera. If Access Hollywood and Entertainment Tonight will be there so will Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian.
- Half Time Show.. Just like the elements will add something to the elements, it will add something to the half-time show too.. plus 99% of your audience will be sitting cozy in their living room so who cares. The added benefit for you (not me) is that the chances of Janet Jackson flashing a boob is much less likely when she's got a chance of frost-bite on her nipple
- The Game.. a true homefield advantage will only make the game better, it will allow teams like the Steelers to play to their own strength. They work all year on being a tough running team but then in the most important game of their season you put them on a fast track. This is a clear disadvantage to them as it will force them to gameplan differently.
- Attendance.. you will be sell out..don't worry about it. Every NFL team has 65,000 seat stadiums so there is no issue with filling seats. Fans will love to be able to brag about having seen a superbowl when it snowed, your stadium will be filled with passionate fans. Can you just imagine how rawkus a crowd you'd have in New England, Washington or Dallas if they had won the right to host their own game because of what they accomplished on the field.
- Your events which lead up to the Superbowl. I fail to see how some lame punt-catch-throw competition on the Tuesday 10 days before the Superbowl is bringing any kind of revenue to anybody. If you are striving for community service then bring the Superbowl to cities who could use the revenue, if you want to give back to your young fans I don't see any issue with giving that opportunity to a kid in Cleveland who by the way wont' be afraid to field a punt in 10 degree weather.
- Hotel-Rooms. You might have a point here and this will be difficult but look at Nascar.. People will travel and find ways to go to the Superbowl . They will sleep in Trailers, RV's, Mobile Homes and Motel rooms if they have to.. It's supposed to be about the game but play to your audience..football fans will stand topless in 0 degree weather with a piece of cheese on their head..they won't mind sleeping in a Holiday Inn Express.
But to get back to our original point, the revenue you think you may lose will be made up 10 folds by the enthusiasm for your event, the ability to help the heartland of this country not to mention giving you the ability to field a full schedule of competitive games in week 17 (or 19) of your regular season.
You will see that you will have a better product and you will go back to appealing to your true base.
Sincerely
Take on Righetti
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