NFL

New England Patriots to be disciplined for filming Cincinnati Bengals’ sideline: report

The NFL is expected to take disciplinary action against the New England Patriots sometime in the next two weeks after the team admitted to filming the Cincinnati Bengals’ sideline in early December for an online web series, according to a report Saturday. The league’s decision is expected to come sometime this month, although it was not immediately clear when as the league has yet to receive all the security reports surrounding the Dec. 8 incident involving an employee of Kraft Sports and Entertainment, Senior NFL reporter for ESPN Adam Schefter reported, citing league sources. Details about what the punishment would behave not been revealed but, being repeat offenders, the Patriots could face a costly penalty. In Sept. 2007, New England was caught videotaping New York Jets’ coaching staff signals from an unauthorized location and, more famously, in 2015, quarterback Tom Brady was suspended four games after allegedly ordering the footballs to be deflated during the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. The Patriots admitted last month that a production crew member filmed the Bengals sideline during their game against the Cleveland Browns while profiling an advanced scout for the team’s internet series “Do Your Job.” However, the organization has not strayed from the claim that the employee did not know what they were doing was against NFL rules. “The sole purpose of the filming was to provide an illustration of an advance scout at work on the road,” a statement released from the team at the time read. “There was no intention of using the footage for any other purpose. We understand and acknowledge that our video crew, which included independent contractors who shot the video, unknowingly violated a league policy by filming the field and sideline from the press box.” The crew member has since been suspended. Schefter reported that other teams in the past were handed hefty fines for similar offenses. Former Browns’ general manager Ray Farmer was fined $250,000 for in-game in texting in 2015 while the Atlanta Falcons lost a 5th round pick and were fined $350,000 that same year for using fake crowd noises during home games in 2013 and 2014.

Soo… the Pats got caught cheating and/or breaking NFL rules.  Gee..what a shocker….not.  Remember how they cheated in the Super Bowl of 2002 against the (then) St. Louis Rams, and won by a field goal?  It was determined afterwards that the Pats DID cheat, and some of their coaching staff was fined.  Some even fired.  But, they got to keep their Super Bowl rings, and because of such brazen deceit for which the Pats didn’t have to forfeit their win, they were emboldened to continue their shenanigans.  What IS stunning is how people like Bill Belichick and the cronies on his coaching staff continue to be employed by Bob Kraft…a man who has character deficiencies of his own.  I guess them being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the TN Titans provides a little karma-like satisfaction.    🙂

NFL Attendance Crashes to 15-Year Low

NFL attendance for 2019 shows the league is still struggling to put fans in the seats. In fact, attendance crashed to a 15-year low. The NFL averaged 66,648 fans in the seats per game, the lowest level since 2004, according to David Broughton and Andrew Levin of Sports Business Daily. For the last 11 years, the Cowboys have had the highest average attendance with 90,929 fans. But 15 teams lost fans including the Jaguars (down 8.7 percent), the Raiders (minus 7.6 percent) and the Bengals (down 7.0 percent). On the other hand, Redskins attendance gained 7.3 percent and the Buffalo Bills attendance grew by 6 percent. “Attendance peaked in 2016, with 69,487 per game. In 2004, 66,328 attended each game, on average,” Profootball Talk reported. On the other hand, the league witnessed a rise in TV ratings. With a concerted push to get back to football and leave the politics behind, the league saw a five percent hike in its TV audience.

….and that’s the key.  The ONLY reason that the NFL is starting to make a slow comeback in it’s tv ratings, is because they’re TRYING on some VERY small level, to reduce the politics, but not the political correctness.  When they make some inroads there, more folks (myself included) might think about checking out a game or two on Sundays.

NFL Legend Jim Brown: We Should Not Kneel Instead of ‘Standing Up for Our Flag’

Former NFL player Jim Brown blasted those who decide to kneel instead of stand for the national anthem at a Thursday afternoon press conference outside the White House. “First of all, I’m an American. That flag is my flag,” Brown told the reporters crowded outside the White House. “I don’t think that we should take knees in protest instead of be standing up for our flag.” The NFL legend, along with rapper Kanye West, met with President Trump inside the White House Thursday to discuss issues of importance to the black community. “I gave him my opinion of the overall community of this country,” Brown said. “I expressed my desire to bring a plan, along with his plan, on how to help people. People need jobs, people need education, people need to be attended to, so that’s what I’m talking about.” Brown had publicly endorsed Trump’s 2020 re-election in August, admitting that left-wing black activists would criticize him over his endorsement. The NFL great also met with West shortly after giving Trump his endorsement. Brown has also spoken out against the national anthem protests in the NFL before, saying he would “never kneel” during our national anthem and would “always respect the flag.”

Kudos to Jim for calling the self-righteous, entitlement-minded punks in the NFL who continue to take a knee during the playing of the national anthem.  Jim gets it.  Excellent!    🙂

Week 3: More Empty Seats Plague NFL Stadiums Across the Nation

As the NFL kicks off Week Three, photos of empty stadiums continue making their way across the Internet showing that the league is still struggling to put fans in the seats. Vikings and Jaguars fans have clearly had it, despite the fact that both teams made deep playoff runs last year. According to photos, the Vikings also found fewer fans than they may have hoped at U.S. Bank Stadium. The game did not go their way, either, as they were handled by the Buffalo Bills 27-6. Things looked just as bad for the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium as they lost a close game to the Giants, 27-22. Photos also seem to show a dearth of fans for the Broncos-Ravens game at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore where the Ravens took the day 27-1. it’s apparent the Falcons were not able to fill seats at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Hometown fans that did attend suffered as their team lost to the visiting Saints 43-37. At press time, the Los Angeles Chargers were struggling as they battled the L.A. Rams at home at L. A. Memorial Coliseum. But photos also noted that fans were less interested in the game.

To see photos from these games, click on the text above…and you be the judge.

NFL Anthem Protests: 10 Players from 6 Teams Protest on Week One

Ten National Football League (NFL) players from six teams protested, in one way or another, during the playing of the National Anthem in the first week of NFL regular season games. While ESPN reports that only two players knelt during the Anthem, three others raised a fist in protest, one sat on the bench and four more boycotted the Anthem in protest by hiding out in their stadium’s tunnels as it played. ESPN has announced it will not broadcast the National Anthem for any of the Monday Night Football games, including this week’s matchup between the New York Jets and Detroit Lions.

Click on the text above to see a list of who all elected to protest in some fashion this past weekend.  Losers..

Poll: Nike Favorability Crashes 34% with Kaepernick Ad Campaign

A poll from Morning Consult shows devastating results for Nike’s brand favorability, in the days after making Colin Kaepernick the face of their new ad campaign. According to the poll via Axios, Nike’s numbers “dropped 34 points from a net +69 favorable impression (76% favorable, 7% unfavorable) among consumers to a net +35 favorable impression (60% favorable, 24% unfavorable).” These numbers are nothing short of devastating for Nike, and with no other news worthy of note, there’s no explanation for the sudden decline other than the company’s commitment to Kaepernick. According to Axios: “While Nike could face negative purchasing consideration as a result of the campaign, experts argue the sports goods giant likely calculated these risks and deemed that it wouldn’t impact its bottom line significantly, despite any short-term pushback. According to the poll, before Nike announced Kaepernick as the face of its ad campaign, only 2% of Americans reported hearing something negative about Nike recently. That number increased to 33% after the announcement. The poll also found that purchasing intent was down after the announcement. Earlier Morning Consult polling shows that brands have relatively little upside in wading into issues that involve President Trump.” Another key finding of the poll was that Nike’s favorability not only didn’t improve among African Americans, it actually declined. This finding is particularly devastating considering it was widely reported that Nike decided to embrace Kaepernick, in part, to increase their already considerable appeal among blacks. The report features over 8,000 interviews conducted among American adults, including 1,694 interviews pre-campaign launch (8/26/18 – 9/3/18) and 5,481 interviews post-campaign launch (9/4/18 – 9/5/18). Additionally, Morning Consult conducted a study among 1,168 adults in the U.S. about Nike’s ad and the decision to choose Kaepernick as the face of the campaign.

NFL Ratings Could Be Headed for Another Steep Drop in 2018

The National Football League Could lose even more viewers during the coming 2018 season, in what may be another “brutal blitz” on the league’s ratings. According to Richard Morgan of the New York Post, the NFL is facing a growing list of troubles, all of which will likely result in fewer fans and lower TV ratings. Indeed, the past two seasons have seen millions quit their football habit. In 2016 TV ratings fell eight percent, and in 2017 they fell an additional ten percent. To that Morgan adds, “ratings could fall even faster as the league continues to grapple with a slew of ugly controversies that have turned off viewers.” Naturally one of the chief controversies is still swirling. After two full seasons of player protests during the national anthem, the issue is still alive and kicking. In fact, players already re-started their protests during this year’s pre-season games despite the league’s criticism of the protests. The league made an aborted effort to ban the protests but then pulled back in favor of meeting with the National Football League Players Association to work out a mutually agreeable solution to the protests. Yet, the two sides have failed to produce a compromise resolution, and the season is set to start on Thursday. Further, as Morgan notes, an arbitrator has ruled that Colin Kaepernick’s grievance against the league accusing the NFL of “colluding” to keep him out of professional football will go to court. In any case, the constant controversy over the anthem protests is not going away soon and that is driving fans away. However, as Morgan writes, the league has problems other than the protests. “Elsewhere, the NFL continues to be dogged by headlines over its concussion settlements with players, which crossed the $500 million mark this spring,” Morgan wrote. Though, there is another problem looming for the long-term health of the NFL: kids are not playing football. “According to research firm Statista, participation in tackle football among US kids ages 6 and older has plunged 38 percent since 2006,” Morgan notes..

And that’s just the beginning..