This is brilliant by the league - in the realm of PR this is a perfect example of grabbing an extreme public perception and flipping it on its head.
Now when conspiracy theorist fans make comments about the “scripted” nature of the NFL, the casual fan will think - “no it isn’t, that was just a commercial!”
Also, when you openly mock something that you are accused of doing, it devalues the accusation.
Again…brilliant by the NFL marketing team.
Here’s where it bugs me…
There is only a small minority of people who believe the NFL is outright scripted, in say, the same way the WWE is scripted.
The larger majority of fans don’t think this but do realize that there are massive inconsistencies in the way games are officiated that can and sometimes do lead to altered outcomes.
So by the NFL putting out the message of “how silly is it that people think this could be fake?” - it invalidates the reality that not every outcome is pure and unadulterated in the NFL.
Example - the “No Call”. That wasn’t planned in advance. But it was a critical mistake that benefited a large market team in their contest over a small market team for the right to go to the NFLs biggest event - where it’s more about money, ratings and market shares than it is about football. Not scripted - but definitely fishy.