NFL: Will Greed and Hypocrisy Ruin The Game?

Junior Seau

The NFL is the most popular professional sport league in the United States.  The league generates annual revenue of $9.5 billion compared to Major League Baseball, the second-highest grossing league, had an annual revenue of $7 billion in 2012 and the NFL more than doubles the National Basketball Association and their revenue of $4 billion.    After watching the PBS documentary League of Denial:  NFL’s Concussion Crisis this week it was very disturbing of the circumstances that forced the NFL to be proactive regarding the issue.  What the documentary revealed is how it took bad public relations including lawsuits and a prominent player such as Junior Seau committing suicide caused from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative disease, which can only be definitively diagnosed postmortem in individuals with a history of multiple concussions and other forms of head injury.

Jonathan Vilma and Drew Brees

This pattern is concerning because the NFL has become a public relations machine for the good and bad.  Current commissioner Roger Goodell has an apparent disconnect with the players' that was evident during the most recent collective bargaining negotiations in 2011 and other recent issues.    The New Orleans Saints in 2012 received unprecedented punishment for their bounty program.  As Dan LeBetard of the Miami Herald stated, "Goodell chose to reveal it and then punish it with iron-fisted overindulgence, gift-wrapping the media an easy and noisy story in America’s most popular sport. Goodell, faced with the oxymoronic task of making a violent game safe, decided to scapegoat the Saints for something that was about as old as football."

Linebacker Jonathan Vilma was suspended for the season and later had is suspension lifted by an appeals court, but the damage was done to Vilma and his team.

Saints quarterback Drew Brees stated after the decision, "If someone would just come out in the league office and admit, ‘You know what? We could have handled this situation better,’ it would go such a long way with both players and fans. People would really come around to realize what this thing was all about because right now the league office and Commissioner Goodell have very little to no credibility with us as players."

Roger Goodell works for the NFL owners and is the messenger for them to the players’ and the public.  There is one thing that many NFL owners and Goodell share, they have very little in common with the players who participate in the game they oversee.  It is expected for many owners to have that disconnect.  Hiring competent executives in their football operations can fill that void.  The Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts, and New England Patriots are examples of having a reputation of a culture that produces quality teams. 

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell

The position of NFL Commissioner was Goodell’s dream job, evident in his letter to then Commissioner Peter Rozelle in 1981 after his college graduation seeking an opportunity to work in the NFL.  He is the son of the late United States Charles Ellis Goodell and competed in football, basketball, and baseball in high school.  His story is compelling and inspiring, he went from an intern to COO to Commissioner in over 24 years. 

In a USA Today Poll released in January 2013 of NFL players 61% said they disapprove of the job Goodell has done overall, with most focusing on the increased fines of players for dangerous hits on defenseless receivers and quarterbacks and the perception of the commissioner's investigation into the New Orleans Saints bounty matter.

Perception is the public’s reality.  His lack of popularity will not impact his job security.  NFL owners are pleased with the job he is doing because the league is continuing to be profitable.  My concern as a fan is when will the rule changes, punishments, and fresh ideas finally catch up with the league to impact the product on the field.  Some will argue that it already has.

Even causes are being used for profit.  October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  NFL players and officials are wearing pink with their uniforms.  According to the League, 100% of the proceeds from the specialty auction go to the American Cancer Society, but the total percentage of purchases of officially licensed gear that actually goes to FINDING A CURE is only 5%.   The players wearing pink are basically walking billboards.  NFL products are sold at a 100% markup and only 5% of sale proceeds go to the American Cancer Society, then the NFL is pocketing 90% of sales of Breast Cancer Awareness products. 

NFL's Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign

Breast cancer has impacted many individuals in one form or another, but men are vulnerable to prostate cancer.   According the American Cancer Society prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer found in American men, other than skin cancer prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men, behind only lung cancer. One man in six will get prostate cancer during his lifetime. And one man in 36 will die of this disease.  The NFL does not have a campaing for prostate cancer because it is not as sensitive of a topic. 

The NFL appears to be full of hypocrisy and greed.  It implements changes for player safety, but to open the 2012 football season the Baltimore Ravens played four games in 17 days.  This season Thursday night games were increased to 13 meaning more weeks of short rest for many teams.  The most recent proposal from the NFL is for expanded playoffs and shortening the preseason from four to three games.

Goodell’s disconnect with the players most likely will not improve over time.  He will not be motivated to make any changes for two reasons, the league will keep selling product and fans will keep buying it.   The NFL knows how to market its product even when dealing with bad public relations. 

What compounds a situation with leaders is when they do not relate with a group, but think that they do.  Athletes know when they are interacting with people that do not “get’ them or their culture.  Within an organization the coaching staff and front office serve as the messengers.  As Commissioner he does not have an intermediary to serve as a communicator.  As Stephen Covey says, “It takes humility to seek feedback. It takes wisdom to understand it, analyze it and appropriately act on it.” 

Goodell was given the keys to a Roll Royce and told don’t crash it.  The continued growth of the NFL has more to do with increased television coverage and great marketing of the sport, which for the last 30 years it has been great at.  Hopefully rule changes, concussion lawsuits, additional games, and damage control public relations will not damage the game loved my many.