Even though I appreciate his business savvy, and must confess, find “Shark Tank” to be a very watchable bit of television junk food.
It doesn’t mean he’s always right.
This week, Cuban decided to tug on Superman’s cape, and warned the NFL that they were “about 10 years away from an implosion.”
Ooooohhhh. Scary stuff. Ten years? Call me when we’re 2 years away from that “implosion.”
Cuban’s main complaint, is that the NFL’s appetite for more, more, and more gravy on top of the more, was going to somehow, do them in. He didn’t exactly spell out HOW the NFL apocalypse would unfold, he just fell back on an old farmer’s euphemism about pigs, hogs, and the slaughterhouse.
Whatever.
The NFL is a lot of things – greedy, hypocritical, two-faced, and pathetic at times – but it is most certainly NOT heading for any kind of “implosion.”
For starters, no major sport in American has “imploded.” The NHL, our least favorite league, went dark FOR TWO WHOLE SEASONS!!
It did not “implode.” No teams were folded. The league’s business pretty much picked up where it left off, with only a slightly more sane salary structure in place.
The NFL may “peak” at some point in the future – in fact, you could argue the NFL is just trying to “feel bottom” on this amazingly deep tank of passion in American for high level tackle football. I can’t blame them for swimming deeper and deeper to finally touch bottom.
But there will not be any jumping of the shark by the NFL, Mr. Shark Tank.
The NFL has the best product to watch, plus the benefit of imposed scarcity of product (just 16 games, instead of 82) to keep interest in the league at a constant state of arousal.
That’s why you see the Jimmy Graham goal-post dunk picture above.
The NFL “banning” this silly little move, which occurs on just 3% of all touchdowns (h/t @wsj) actually made BIG NEWS and dominated sports radio on a Wednesday.
In March.
That should end any argument with Cuban on the NFL’s dominant status in America.
Meanwhile, back in HIS league, the “Association”…. the LA Lakers with a cast of D-league caliber players, absolutely destroyed the New York Knicks in front of their $60 million celebrity GM.
Scoring 51 points in the 3rd quarter, the Lakers laid bare the empty soul of the NBA as it currently exists. Were this a league that actually gave a shit, and with players who were in proper fear of losing their average $5 million per year salaries, a quarter this bad would have immediately precipitated a full on fistfight on the Knicks bench.
Instead, nothing. Nothing from their star player. Nothing from their puppet head coach.
Nothing.
Worry about your own house, Mr. Cuban. The NFL is so flush, they have the luxury to spend their owner’s meetings, literally straightening the league’s goalposts.
Mr. Maverick actually DID lay out possible scenarios that could lead to the demise of ‘Da League’.
And there is one I find intriguing, if not possible:
It starts with the whole concussion issue. He makes the argument that parents aren’t going to be as supportive of their kids playing/choosing football as their sport, and that they might even actively steer their kids in any other direction. With the decline in popularity at the basic level, this could easily impact the sport at its highest.
If a sport like soccer (fútball) became the most popular for high schoolers to play and watch in America, you can bet that it would become the same on the professional level. It is, in fact, it is the most popular sport in the world with multiple highly profitable professional leagues.
That being said, there is a 0.5% chance I will watch even 10 minutes of an NBA game per season, including the during Finals (0.0% chance I watching a Mavericks game). However, if any NCAA conference tournament or National tournament game is on, I’m watching (even the NCAA regular season is more interesting than the NBA).
And yes, I would watch more football at any level, if it was provided.
I heard you going on this rant against what Cuban said on the show this morning, and all I can think of was that I remember YOU arguing this from the other side at the beginning of the last football season! “NFL is over-exposed” “Watered down content” ect ect ect. I couldn’t believe my ears, and I was hoping the whole time that Solly would start playing tape from about September of last year, where you were saying the same thing.
Now about the “collapse”. I think you are taking that word too literal. A collapse doesn’t mean they will go bankrupt, but be a shell of the ratings powerhouse that they once were. Example – NASCAR racing. Look back to 2001, 2002, NASCAR was competing with the NFL for ratings, they were selling out every venue, and it looked like their popularity momentum couldn’t be stopped. Throw in a bunch of bad decisions by NASCAR itself, then have the same guy win the championship 6 out of 7 years, and now look where they have fallen. They don’t even sell out Bristol anymore, and that used to be one of the toughest tickets in sports.
Czabe, Your last line there is the money shot. Can’t stand the players who think they are just entitled to anything and don’t have to follow any rules. Cuban has been blowing hard for way to long and the show is old.