Ed Note: This post appears courtesy Ed Sherman and the National Sports Journalism Center.
Back in September, I did a column in this space wondering about the fallout for the NFL in the wake of the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson cases. I thought it could cause the NFL to lose its grip on the public.
I wrote:
“The events of last week revealed the NFL isn’t Teflon. The league needs to get its ship in order quickly. It definitely can’t afford any more bad news.”
Since then, what’s happened? More bad news. “Deflatgate” had the NFL leading the network news telecasts again. It’s not a good thing when one of the league’s iconic players and a future Hall of Fame coach are having their integrity questioned.
The other big story leading up to the Super Bowl focused on a star player, Marshawn Lynch, not talking to the media. Not exactly feel-good stuff.
Finally, did you hear all those boos for Roger Goodell when he took the stage for Sunday night’s trophy presentation? There is little question that the NFL commissioner now is one of the most despised people in sports.
You have to wonder who is advising him on the PR front? The man who insists Lynch has to talk to the media turned down an interview request from NBC Sunday, and the network only is paying billions in rights fees to the NFL. Seems a bit hypocritical, right?
Yes, it couldn’t have been worse for the NFL off the field this year. And what was the end result?
The NFL scored some of its best ratings ever.
The Super Bowl did a 49.7 overnight rating for major markets. According to Sports Media Watch, it tied the record for the highest overnight rating for a sport event since the Tonya-Nancy saga in the 1994 Olympics. That’s 21 years ago in an era with significantly less channel options, and no real Internet.
It wasn’t just the Super Bowl. The NFL playoffs were at their highest levels since the ‘90s, as were several regular-season games.
And what about the backlash from women who supposedly would be upset with the way the NFL handled the Rice situation? In November, Street & Smith’s Sports Business Daily reported women ratings for the NFL were up 5 percent in 2014. It is safe to assume the increase might be even higher given the big numbers for the NFL’s postseason.
Indeed, despite all the NFL’s self-inflicted wounds, the league actually got more popular this year. It turns out the golden goose has a Teflon shield.
An interesting dynamic occurred on the network Sunday morning shows. They always do several segments on the NFL on a Super Bowl Sunday.
Yesterday, the various anchors tried to portray the image of a NFL being in trouble. Chuck Todd on “Meet The Press” had this opening to an interview with Jeff Pash, the NFL’s general counsel:
“It feels like the beginning of a Dickens novel for the NFL: The best of times on the field financially, but it’s been the worst of times off the field this last year.”
Martha Raddatz on “This Week with George Stephanopolous” asked Arizona governor Doug Ducey if he thought Sunday’s game would be “diminished” because of “Deflatgate.” Now I really like Raddatz, but did she expect Ducey, who wants his state to host many more Super Bowls, to say yes? Of course, Ducey said no. And that was the right answer anyway.
If the past season said one thing, it doesn’t matter what happens to the NFL off the field. People still want to watch their games. The game has become too big to fail.
There might be outrage on the studio shows and sports talk radio about the NFL’s declining standards, but it all gets shelved when the teams line up on game day. It almost feels as if the dialogue goes this way: “The NFL really botched the Rice case. So who are you starting at running back this week?”
Another turbulent off-season looms for the NFL. The Super Bowl aftermath broke with the news of Johnny Manziel going into rehab. Goodell also will have to rule on “Deflatgate,” which seems like a no-win for all involved. Plus, there’s the great unknown. At this point last year, Rice was known only as a good running back for the Baltimore Ravens.
However, even if the off-the-field news is bad or even worse than this year, one thing is for sure: NFL fans already are counting the days to opening kickoff, 2015.
