People love sports. Soccer mania rules most of the world, but here in the U.S., we have football,
baseball, basketball and hockey fever. We do have soccer, tennis and other sports, but these have a relative smaller market share. Out of all of these sports and leagues, the NFL reigns supreme.
The NFL alone is estimated to have revenues in the $10 billion range. NFL coverage dominates TV ratings to such an extent that 34 of the top 35 shows last year were NFL games. Games are viewable all day Sunday, Monday and Thursday, with Saturday coverage coming during playoffs. For this reason, all the major networks broadcast games and cable companies carry NFL specific packages and channels.
By most counts, people also avoid and dislike violence. Domestic abuse is looked down upon and there are anti-bullying and taunting social programs available. There are also a ton of “safety” laws enacted to protect people from injury, be they seat-belt, speeding, and helmet laws. I put safety in quotes because it can be argued that a lot of these laws are really just revenue generators – more on that in another post.
Sports = good. Violence and injury = bad.
But what happens when the two intersect? It depends. If an athlete is accused of domestic abuse or another form of violence but he is on a team you root for, you won’t protest so bad if the offense is swept under the rug. If he’s on a rival team, I’m sure you won’t call any suspension heavy handed.
The whole hypocrisy of sports and domestic violence really came to the forefront this season. We have the Ray Rice video of him knocking out his then fiancé unconscious in an elevator and the subsequent debacle of how the NFL handled that. At first, they only suspended him a few games but once the video was made available by TMZ, the league had to suspend him indefinitely. They were caught lying and calls were made for the commissioner, Roger Goodell, to quit his $44.2m a year job (which is twice what the highest paid player gets). He didn’t.
The 2nd major offense was the Adrian Peterson case, where he beat his kid so bad that he had slash marks on his “back, buttocks, genitals, ankles, and legs.” Peterson’s case was handled similarly to Rice’s. He was first suspended a few games, reinstated, but once pictures were made available again on TMZ, Peterson was removed from the NFL roster.
One need not guess to hard what would have happened if the Rice video and Peterson pictures had not been made available. I am certain that these athletes would be on the field, putting up nice numbers for their teams and receiving cheers and adoration from the crowd.
The NFL is especially complicit in hiding violence and injury. Their whole handling of domestic abuse cases, hiding concussion evidence, denying CTE / ALS ties to brain injuries sustained while playing and how these may have contributed to suicides by ex-players, and their not-so-charitable pink campaigns have really garnered negative publicity.
However, none of this has translated into revenue loss or a loss of popularity. It can be argued that the NFL is as popular as ever and easily one of the most profitable non-profit organization in the world – yup, the NFL is a non-profit organization.
So, is the league being hypocritical when they air their anti-domestic violence and anti-bullying commercials? Is it being hypocritical when they cover uniforms in pink for a cause they don’t donate any money to? Sure, but what does it say about fans who still shell out money for jerseys, tickets, video games, and special coverage packages?
Yup, we’re complicit. I say we because, even though Los Angeles doesn’t have an NFL team, I still watch games. I’m not an avid fan like I used to be, but I still record the NFL recaps and the occasional game. Plus, I’m also an avid MMA and combat sports fan. That’s about a pure and violent as sport gets.
I therefore don’t see any changes to how big sport organizations run their leagues. According to the bottom line, they’re doing just fine. And it’s all thanks to sport fans like me.
I admit it: I’m a hypocrite. I criticize the NFL and other leagues, post the weekly concussion watch news from Frontline, yet I still watch. I don’t spend any extra money attending games, but I still watch. I don’t spend any extra money buying merchandise, but I still watch. I don’t even have a favorite player or team, but I still watch.
I’m part of the problem, not the solution.
