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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/11/s...l-football-games-will-be-a-welcome-sight.html
For N.F.L., Actual Football Games Will Be a Welcome Sight
By KEN BELSON/SEPT. 10, 2015
There is a line of thinking among sports business executives that whatever troubles the N.F.L.endures during the off-season melt away once the regular season begins.
Scandals linger and even explode, like the spate of domestic violence cases last year that sent shock waves across the nation and embroiled the league in perhaps its biggest scandal ever. But by and large, professional football fans want to watch pro football, as sky-high television ratings attest. When the games start, fans focus more on their teams — real and fantasy — while the scandals, however significant, tend to take a back seat.
This theory will again be put to the test on Thursday night when the N.F.L. season opens at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., where the New England Patriots, the team at the center of this off-season’s biggest controversy, host the Pittsburgh Steelers.
For more than seven months, the league’s handling of allegations that the Patriots plotted to deflate game balls has put Commissioner Roger Goodell in the hot seat and has raised questions about New England and Tom Brady, and whether they skirted rules to gain an advantage.
A federal judge overturned Brady’s four-game suspension, saying the league did not offer Brady proper due process. But many fans (outside New England, at least) still question whether Brady played a role in deflating the balls.
This has added a twist to the season opener and has all but guaranteed that it will be a highly watched, nationally televised spectacle, with an embattled team beginning a defense of itsSuper Bowl title in front of its home fans.
“After this whole season of craziness and headlines having very little to do with anything that takes place on the field itself,” said Al Michaels, who will call the game for NBC Sports, “there almost seems to be, in a wild and wacky way, even more interest in football going into the season, because a lot of people who only tangentially follow the sport want to know what in the world is going on with this thing.”
One person who will not be at the game is Goodell, who said he would watch from home, not with the potentially hostile fans. Given how he has been pilloried for his handling of the investigation into the Patriots, it is not surprising that he is eager for the new season to begin.
“I think people want to get back to football,” he said this week in New Orleans. “It’s time to put all that away; let’s focus on the game.”
The controversy is not going away quite yet. ESPN reported this week that, from 2000 to 2007, the Patriots spied on rival teams to a far greater degree than had previously been reported. Goodell, according to anonymous sources cited by ESPN, was harder on the Patriots this year to combat the perception that he was not stringent enough with them nearly a decade ago. Goodell has denied that charge.
The Patriots also strongly denied allegations made in the story and defended Coach Bill Belichick. “It is disappointing that some choose to believe in myths, conjecture and rumors rather than giving credit for the team’s successes to Coach Belichick, his staff and players for their hard work, attention to detail, methodical weekly preparation, diligence and overall performance,” the team said in a statement.
The Patriots have requested to reinstate John Jastremski and Jim McNally, the two team employees who were suspended after the controversy over the deflated game balls was made public.
The seemingly endless storm led Scott Fujita, the former linebacker who is now a commentator, to comment on Twitter: “Serious question: Has the off-field drama in & around the NFL become more interesting to you than actual football?”
There is a good chance that by kickoff Thursday, though, the focus will be on the field, not the courtroom. In fact, despite all the distractions, the Patriots remain the team to beat in their division, if not their entire conference.
Since the Brady-Belichick era began in earnest in 2001, the Patriots are 66-20 within the A.F.C. East. They have won 12 of the last 14 division titles, by an average margin of 3.4 games, a remarkable run of consistency.
The Bills, the Dolphins and the Jets spent heavily in the off-season to fortify their rosters. The Dolphins brought in defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh, the Bills signed running back LeSean McCoy and wide receiver Percy Harvin, and the Jets signed cornerback Darrelle Revis.
Even so, the Patriots, along with the Packers and the Seahawks, have the best odds to win Super Bowl 50, according to MyTopSportsbooks.com.
For N.F.L., Actual Football Games Will Be a Welcome Sight
By KEN BELSON/SEPT. 10, 2015
There is a line of thinking among sports business executives that whatever troubles the N.F.L.endures during the off-season melt away once the regular season begins.
Scandals linger and even explode, like the spate of domestic violence cases last year that sent shock waves across the nation and embroiled the league in perhaps its biggest scandal ever. But by and large, professional football fans want to watch pro football, as sky-high television ratings attest. When the games start, fans focus more on their teams — real and fantasy — while the scandals, however significant, tend to take a back seat.
This theory will again be put to the test on Thursday night when the N.F.L. season opens at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., where the New England Patriots, the team at the center of this off-season’s biggest controversy, host the Pittsburgh Steelers.
For more than seven months, the league’s handling of allegations that the Patriots plotted to deflate game balls has put Commissioner Roger Goodell in the hot seat and has raised questions about New England and Tom Brady, and whether they skirted rules to gain an advantage.
A federal judge overturned Brady’s four-game suspension, saying the league did not offer Brady proper due process. But many fans (outside New England, at least) still question whether Brady played a role in deflating the balls.
This has added a twist to the season opener and has all but guaranteed that it will be a highly watched, nationally televised spectacle, with an embattled team beginning a defense of itsSuper Bowl title in front of its home fans.
“After this whole season of craziness and headlines having very little to do with anything that takes place on the field itself,” said Al Michaels, who will call the game for NBC Sports, “there almost seems to be, in a wild and wacky way, even more interest in football going into the season, because a lot of people who only tangentially follow the sport want to know what in the world is going on with this thing.”
One person who will not be at the game is Goodell, who said he would watch from home, not with the potentially hostile fans. Given how he has been pilloried for his handling of the investigation into the Patriots, it is not surprising that he is eager for the new season to begin.
“I think people want to get back to football,” he said this week in New Orleans. “It’s time to put all that away; let’s focus on the game.”
The controversy is not going away quite yet. ESPN reported this week that, from 2000 to 2007, the Patriots spied on rival teams to a far greater degree than had previously been reported. Goodell, according to anonymous sources cited by ESPN, was harder on the Patriots this year to combat the perception that he was not stringent enough with them nearly a decade ago. Goodell has denied that charge.
The Patriots also strongly denied allegations made in the story and defended Coach Bill Belichick. “It is disappointing that some choose to believe in myths, conjecture and rumors rather than giving credit for the team’s successes to Coach Belichick, his staff and players for their hard work, attention to detail, methodical weekly preparation, diligence and overall performance,” the team said in a statement.
The Patriots have requested to reinstate John Jastremski and Jim McNally, the two team employees who were suspended after the controversy over the deflated game balls was made public.
The seemingly endless storm led Scott Fujita, the former linebacker who is now a commentator, to comment on Twitter: “Serious question: Has the off-field drama in & around the NFL become more interesting to you than actual football?”
There is a good chance that by kickoff Thursday, though, the focus will be on the field, not the courtroom. In fact, despite all the distractions, the Patriots remain the team to beat in their division, if not their entire conference.
Since the Brady-Belichick era began in earnest in 2001, the Patriots are 66-20 within the A.F.C. East. They have won 12 of the last 14 division titles, by an average margin of 3.4 games, a remarkable run of consistency.
The Bills, the Dolphins and the Jets spent heavily in the off-season to fortify their rosters. The Dolphins brought in defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh, the Bills signed running back LeSean McCoy and wide receiver Percy Harvin, and the Jets signed cornerback Darrelle Revis.
Even so, the Patriots, along with the Packers and the Seahawks, have the best odds to win Super Bowl 50, according to MyTopSportsbooks.com.
