The NFL's ratings crisis

Reading that MMQ article, I don't understand the referees and penalties complaint, such as "game so and so had 19 penalties". Do they expect the refs not to call penalties when there are penalties?

 

A lot of them weren't penalties five or 10 years ago, and a lot of them (particularly roughing the QB) are very questionable.

 

The game has become unenjoyable and unwatchable, and the same is happening to college football.
The main issues are the rules and replay. Problems with officiating are simply an offshoot of those two problems.
Sports commentary and broadcasting has become more and more consumed with the officiating.
It's not entertaining anymore.

When an additional broadcaster had to be added for the sole purpose of explaining the rules and critiquing the officiating, the game was already in trouble.

It's ridiculous.

 

The game has become unenjoyable and unwatchable, and the same is happening to college football.
The main issues are the rules and replay. Problems with officiating are simply an offshoot of those two problems.
Sports commentary and broadcasting has become more and more consumed with the officiating.
It's not entertaining anymore.

When an additional broadcaster had to be added for the sole purpose of explaining the rules and critiquing the officiating, the game was already in trouble.

It's ridiculous.

 

Exactly. This whole "complete the play after the catch" concept is BS. Possession, two feet in-bounds, it's a catch. Period. If you drop it on the way down, it's a fumble, unless you're in the end zone, at which point it's a TD because you've already established possession in the EZ.

Why do receivers who establish possession in the EZ have to maintain control of the ball all the way to the ground and beyond, when some guy who dives into the EZ doesn't have to? The rule for a receiver scoring and a runner scoring should be identical. Either it's an immediate TD for both, or they both have to "complete the play" and maintain possession to the ground.

Even the announcers are finally calling the catch rule a load of BS.

 

That will be the lead on NASCAR's obituary.

 

The Red Zone channel is the perfect embodiment of our current culture. Next doctors will create a way to bypass sex so we can go straight for the orgasm.

 

Or newspapers'.

 

The challenge, and it probably goes back to the Bert Emanuel Rule in, I think, the 1999 NFC Championship Game (Rams/Bucs) is that, though the ground cannot cause a fumble, it can cause an incompletion. Therefore, determining the border between when the play is still a 'forward pass in progress' and when it is a catching and running situation has proven to be thus far, impossible.

 

Hell, I had that one mastered as a teenager.

 

Boy, you can say that again...

 

Agreed. And I'd point out that "over-officiating" has also become a plague on basketball, especially the college game. Awhile back I was watching some classic games from decades ago and was so struck by how much better college games used to flow. Long stretches of continuous back and forth uninterrupted play with no whistles, no stoppages, no referee conferences, no monitor reviews. It was glorious. I'd forgotten college basketball games used to look like that.

I wish both sports better understood that fans want to see less officiating, not more. Stop looking for any excuse to blow your whistle or throw your flag. Stop "anticipating" fouls and penalties that you've not yet seen. And stop having so damn many conferences where we're all forced to watch you for minutes at a time as the game itself goes stale.