N/S NFL still using officials to keep viewers by keeping game close (1 Viewer)

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Count me as one who does not believe in league conspiracies regarding officiating. I do not believe that there has been any agreement by league officials and game officials to call games a certain way to ensure that a certain team wins or loses.

It appears from these and other posts on this forum that some think the officials have made or will make calls with the intent that the Saints never win, that a Los Angeles team must win, that a big market team must win, that the Super Bowl game must stay close for TV ratings, and now that quarterbacks of color should not win too many Super Bowls. I think all of this utter nonsense.

I do think that officiating is incredibly hard, that there are officials who should not have jobs because of their competency, that we need full - time officials, that the league is much too protective of officials and too reluctant to recognize officiating errors because of its arrogance, that star players get preferential treatment or the calls, and that there are officials and Riveron who did not like review of pass interference calls and allowed their dislike for the rule to affect their decisions this season.

I think the NFL is incredibly arrogant and greedy, but not totally stupid. The collective value of its 32 franchises might be 100 billion dollars. Credible proof of a conspiracy intended to decide games would decimate the value of those franchises. And a conspiracy by definition requires involvement of more than one person--and here some are talking about many. Something like this stays quiet?

I am simply not ready to put NFL officiating in the same category as, say, what Deutsche Bank has done over the years..The constant talk of conspiracies on this forum frankly reflects some of the darker trends we are seeing in our society. But that is a subject for another day.
 
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RJ in Lafayette said:
Count me as one who does not believe in league conspiracies regarding officiating. I do not believe that there has been any agreement by league officials and game officials to call games a certain way to ensure that a certain team wins or loses.

It appears from these and other posts on this forum that some think the officials have made or will make calls with the intent that the Saints never win, that a Los Angeles team must win, that a big market team must win, that the Super Bowl game must stay close for TV ratings, and now that quarterbacks of color should not win too many Super Bowls. I think all of this utter nonsense.

I do think that officiating is incredibly hard, that there are officials who should not have jobs because of their competency, that we need full - time officials, that the league is much too protective of officials and too reluctant to recognize officiating errors because of its arrogance, that star players get preferential treatment or the calls, and that there are officials and Riveron who did not like review of pass interference calls and allowed their dislike for the rule to affect their decisions this season.

I think the NFL is incredibly arrogant and greedy, but not totally stupid. The collective value of its 32 franchises might be 100 billion dollars. Credible proof of a conspiracy intended to decide games would decimate the value of those franchises. And a conspiracy by definition requires involvement of more than one person--and here some are talking about many. Something like this stays quiet?

I am simply not ready to put NFL officiating in the same category as, say, what Deutsche Bank has done over the years..The constant talk of conspiracies on this forum frankly reflects some of the darker trends we are seeing in our society. But that is a subject for another day.
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I'll never believe the no call in the Rams game was simply a case of incompetence. And I seriously question the non called OPI at the end of the Vikes game being simply due to incompetence. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I do think there are influences and possible biases that causes officials to make certain calls. I think that's undeniable.
 
Saint Jack said:
The Super Bowl ad price goes up no matter the team or score. The Bucs blew out the Raiders in XXXVII and the ad price went up the next season. And the same happened after the Seahawks beat the Broncos by 30+ in their Super Bowl win.
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True and thus to part of my point, it does not matter the teams in the Super Bowl. But as the cost of advertising continues to go up, the advertisers are going to be very mindful of how they spend their money. The blowouts you mention were a long time ago. When was the last blowout? I am talking when the game was determined by double digits and the double digit differential was sustained throughout the game and to the end as a final double digit win? You know someone in advertising and marketing? I do and can tell you, the cost of the commercials are scrutinized and re-evaluated on a yearly basis. At some point there will be a peak, where costs become static, or drop slightly. All it will take is one year, where the NFL/host network are unable to sell all of the advertising time and that will be the beginning of the price hold, or drop.
 
DaveXA said:
I'll never believe the no call in the Rams game was simply a case of incompetence. And I seriously question the non called OPI at the end of the Vikes game being simply due to incompetence. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I do think there are influences and possible biases that causes officials to make certain calls. I think that's undeniable.
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There is subconscious bias, with everyone! You may not want to believe so, but decisions are made with a subconscious bias, all of the time. Some decisions are more split second types (officiating, baseball-balls and strikes), while others in every day life have more time to be thought out.
 
Subconscious bias by some officials and conspiracy by the league are completely different. And there is an obvious bias by officials not to call major penalties in championship games--especially at the end of games. The non-call last year was a bridge too far and needed to be called. The non-call OPF at the end of the Minnesota game was not nearly as egregious; had I been the official, given the circumstances, I don't believe I would have called it.
 
sgilbert313 said:
There was a late delay of game against San Fran that wasn't called. The play clock sat at zero for two seconds and no flags. Not surprising at all.....
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That no call actually benefited the Chiefs. It was 4th and 10. Garappalo was under pressure and threw an ugly inc. pass. The Chiefs
then took over on downs. If the refs make the delay call, the Niners have a fresh 30 seconds to come up with another play.
 
And look at the pointspreads now in Super Bowl games compared to what they were 25 and 35 years ago. The games are closer because the teams are more evenly matched. Free agency and a hard salary cap have transformed the league. No more dynasties. Much more parity.
 
The non-call for delay was beneficial to the Chiefs only in retrospect. When the clock hit 0, a million KC fans were screaming where is the flag. The officials let them play on Sunday. They often do in championship games. And it made for a better game.
 
RJ in Lafayette said:
And look at the pointspreads now in Super Bowl games compared to what they were 25 and 35 years ago. The games are closer because the teams are more evenly matched. Free agency and a hard salary cap have transformed the league. No more dynasties. Much more parity.
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I agree here. It's no longer surprising to see a team go from 4-12 to a SB appearance the following season.
 
RJ in Lafayette said:
The non-call for delay was beneficial to the Chiefs only in retrospect. When the clock hit 0, a million KC fans were screaming where is the flag. The officials let them play on Sunday. They often do in championship games. And it made for a better game.
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I'm looking for a replay. Unfortunately, the NFL.com official one doesn't have it. Mike Perria explained it by saying when the clock
strikes 0.00 the back judge will look to see if the center is in the process of snapping the ball, if he is,they usually let the play continue.
 
RJ in Lafayette said:
Subconscious bias by some officials and conspiracy by the league are completely different. And there is an obvious bias by officials not to call major penalties in championship games--especially at the end of games. The non-call last year was a bridge too far and needed to be called. The non-call OPF at the end of the Minnesota game was not nearly as egregious; had I been the official, given the circumstances, I don't believe I would have called it.
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You might not have called it, but it's a play that should be called every time. Extending the arm to get separation is pretty easy to see. SF got tagged with an OPI on one of the biggest plays of the game and cost SF a FG opportunity to end the first half of the Super Bowl.

My biggest beef with officiating isn't that bad calls are made. My biggest beef has always been a lack of consistency with calls made. That lack of consistency and subjectivity makes it too easy for officials to control how games are played, and makes it tempting to make biased calls because the subjectiveness of calls can cover over some of those biases.

Not a conspiracy, but it's clear there is a lack of accountability for poor officiating. That's a Riveron and NFL problem that needs to get remedied. I don't see it happening though. The money continues to roll in and there is really no incentive for the NFL to make any drastic changes.
 
insidejob said:
I can certainly buy this more than the league giving actual instructions on which team should win the game. Remember when Super Bowls used to consistently be blowouts? That trend sure has disappeared over the past decade +.
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There really wasn't a trend of double digit wins. Most Super Bowls are within 7 points.
RJ in Lafayette said:
I do think that officiating is incredibly hard, that there are officials who should not have jobs because of their competency, that we need full - time officials, that the league is much too protective of officials and too reluctant to recognize officiating errors because of its arrogance, that star players get preferential treatment or the calls, and that there are officials and Riveron who did not like review of pass interference calls and allowed their dislike for the rule to affect their decisions this season.

I think the NFL is incredibly arrogant and greedy, but not totally stupid. The collective value of its 32 franchises might be 100 billion dollars. Credible proof of a conspiracy intended to decide games would decimate the value of those franchises. And a conspiracy by definition requires involvement of more than one person--and here some are talking about many. Something like this stays quiet?
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Full time officials won't make any difference in the game. They will still do as instructed. Remember the replacement refs? Everyone was begging for the pathetic officials to come back. The league has those replacements make bogus calls just so fans would ask for the regular officials back and it worked.

The owners don't care if their team wins or loses. It's not 32 individual teams. It's a business where 32 teams split the profit. The Saints benefit from KC winning the SB because Maholmes jerseys will sell like hot cakes and the Saints get a portion of that money. 32 teams split the sale of playoff tickets and merchandise. Regular season games I think it's 40% of ticket sales are split.

That's why I believe the game isn't real. It's played with money. Cowboys haven't won a SB in a long time. It's not about big market vs small market. It's about sales. Jerry Jones is the only owner that doesn't split his merchandise sales.

Detroit Lions don't care if they win or lose. They get a paycheck regardless. This is not really football. Too much money is at stake to let the play on the field determine the winner. No player joins the league in hopes of winning a super bowl. You know if you are drafted by the Bengals, Browns, lions, you aren't winning games but it doesn't matter because you are an instant millionaire.
 

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