Disclaimer:
THIS ARTICLE IS PURELY THEORETICAL AND HYPOTHETICAL THIS IS IN NO WAY SAYING THE ACCOUNT IS RIGHT AND OR TRUTHFUL. THIS IS SIMPLY A SCENARIO.
The sport of Football is one of the most influential games in America. It’s one of America’s past times(only second to baseball). The NFL is a non-profit corporation that generates billions of dollars in tickets, merchandise, ad revenue and more. The Sport of Football on the college level also generates billions of dollars in revenue through the same model. The social impact of football on Americans is enormous, millions of people watch the largest games, bond over the love of the same team and rivalries.
Over the last few decades the sport has been plagued with controversies and the effects of them have placed the sport under hot water. From the USC scandal, to NCAA players class action law suits for paychecks, to Spygate, and to The Ray Rice tape debacle. Corruption has halted the growth of the sport and has caused fans to leave the game, as well as not allow their children to play. Many people have feelings that the sport may be corrupt, and small issues may increase these feelings and give more credibility to skeptics.
Recently I stumbled upon a Twitter page called @NFLCORRUPTION. The user proposes that the NFL is corrupt and predicted (accurately I might add) the records for each team in the nfl by the end of season. 7 days ago the user tweeted that the Super Bowl matchup will be The New England Patriots vs. The Dallas Cowboys and that the Cowboys will be the champion. After the flag reversal of the Cowboys game last night things have been getting more and more fishy on the internets. There have been numerous disputes that this page is a fake, a fluke, and that it posted all of the possibilities and then deleted them as they happened. No proof has been supplied on whether this is true, but it definitely has the web buzzing.
The first thought that came to my mind was What if this account was true? What if all games were fixed and records were signed and agreed for? What would this do to the credibility of the NFL and to the game of Football?
First and foremost, IF it is, the person who made that account is being hunted down like Edward Snowden as we speak. Second, if this person has actual documents and/or recordings? This would be the most insane story since the Snowden leak. The journalist on this thing? Pulitzer fucking prize winner. The senate hearings, the financial inquiries, this would be a larger scandal than baseball had with Steroids or with the World Series Fix of 1919. We are looking at massive decline in NFL attendance, withdrawal of sponsors, partners, and advertising. The firestorm of tweets and blogs will take over the web and the love for a sport that Americans love will be permanently scarred.
Corruption has always led to a sudden drop in confidence in sports. Some agencies and players have repaired their image and some haven’t. The Olympics have repaired their image since previous scandals and have increased regulatory measures to prevent doping. Brands such as Livestrong and cyclist Lance Armstrong have never recovered from Steroid scandals. Since the steroid debacle, the MLB has suffered from falling ticket sales and viewership. These have seriously damaged these sports but they have always been player centric. IF there is corruption in the NFL this would be the first systematically formed corruption scheme in the history of sports. This would ruin trust in the sport in general and the damage would be irreparable.
There are economies in the United States fueled by the sport of football, if American interest in the sport falls we are looking at Universities, small businesses, retail chains and many more negatively affected by this. Just the NFL teams alone split 6 Billion dollars in revenue last year. The super bowl may single-handedly sell the most expensive advertising commercial blocks on television by far. A corruption scandal can severely bring down those prices significantly.
Many critics have been calling and speculating an end to the NFL citing that the sport is too dangerous and doesn’t pay players enough. From CTE and concussive issues on all levels from high school to professional, consumer confidence has already fallen and only massive reform would be able to keep it in tact. After all of the bad press the NFL has been receiving it is clear that there needs to be a change and it should happen as soon as possible. The fate of football relies on it.
Carl
Twitter/Instagram: CJoeBlack
LinkedIn/Facebook: Carl H. Joseph-Black
Email: CarlJoeBlack@gmail.com
